Chinese investors gain greater role in pricing IPOs
Institutional investors in China are to have a greater role in the pricing of domestic initial public offerings under new rules issued after a four-month freeze on listings. The rules, released over the weekend by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, are an attempt to stop the practice of setting IPO prices artificially low to ensure a large jump on the opening day of trading.
It has not been uncommon in recent years for stock prices to climb by 70 to 100 per cent at the start of trading, which discouraged long-term holdings.
Under the new rules, companies will have to use conventional book-building methods to set their prices, by consulting at least 20 institutional investors, or 50 if the issue is worth more than Rmb400m ($48m, �37m, ￡25m).
“The experience of mature markets has shown that canvassing the opinions of specialist investors is effective,” the Chinese regulator was quoted as saying in local newspapers.
“This is a big step that requires training for issuers, underwriters, investors.”
Institutional investors should also refrain from selling shares bought through public bidding for at least three months after an IPO, according to the rules.
The new rules should also apply to foreign securities houses which are allowed to buy local Chinese shares. The CSRC said that domestic IPOs would re-start in 2005, but did not give a date.
Until the IPO freeze was imposed in August, Chinese companies had raised RMB43bn ($5.2bn) this year, more than 65 per cent more than for the same period in 2003.
The poor performance of China's share market, which is down by more than 12 per cent this year despite China's booming economy and healthy corporate profits, has been a drag on the government's efforts to reform the financial system.
Banks have been forced to carry nearly all the burden of raising capital for businesses, increasing the risk they will have to add to their already heavy book of bad loans.
The latest change, while long overdue, does not address the central problem of the stock market the government's enduring majority stake in most listed companies. Policies to address this issue are not even discussed publicly.
There is a long queue of companies waiting to raise money from the equity market, including PetroChina, China's largest oil company, and numerous local banks with foreign partners.
中国机构投资者将更多参与IPO定价
根据一项最新规则，中国机构投资者将在国内首次公开上市定价上扮演更重要的角色。这些规则是在冻结首发上市4个月后公布的。由中国证监会在周末发布的这些规则，旨在制止将首发价格人为定在低位，以便保证上市首日出现大涨的做法。
最近几年，首发股价一开市就上涨70%至100%的现象并不少见，这挫伤了长线持股的意愿。
根据新规则，企业必须运用常规的累计投标询价方式进行定价，咨询至少20家机构投资者，如果发行规模超过4亿元人民币(合4800万美元)，则必须咨询至少50家。
“成熟市场的经验表明，向专业从事证券投资的机构投资者询价是形成股票发行价格的有效方式，”当地报纸引述中国监管机构的话说。
“这是一大步，需要对发行者、承销商、投资者进行培训。”
根据新规则，机构投资者在首发后至少3个月内也不得抛售获配股票。
新规则也应适用于允许购买中国国内股票的外国证券机构。中国证监会表示，国内首次公开发行将于2005年重新启动，但没有给出具体日期。
到8月停发新股为止，中国企业今年已筹资430亿元人民币(合52亿美元)，比2003年同期多65%。
虽然中国经济蓬勃发展，企业盈利状况良好，但中国股市今年却下跌逾12%，这一糟糕表现已拖累了中国政府改革金融系统的努力。
中国各银行被迫承担为企业融资的几乎全部负担，这加大了银行不得不增加坏账的风险，而它们的坏账数额本来已十分庞大。
这一最新改革固然早就应该进行，但它并没有解决股市的核心问题，即政府在大多数上市公司中长期持有多数股份。解决这一问题的政策甚至还未进行过公开讨论。
