China CSRC cuts IPO committee size to 25; UBS official included
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has cut the size of the committee that examines and approves initial public offering (IPO) applications to 25 from 90, with the new committee comprising an UBS AG official.
The CSRC has published the list of committee members on its website for the first time since the committee was first established more than three years ago, with Nicole Yuen, head of China Equities for UBS, among the list.
UBS was the first approved foreign investor to buy into China's yuan-dominated securities, and it has received a 600 mln usd investment quota under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) system, out of the total approved quota of 1.7 bln usd for QFIIs.
China first established the IPO committee in 1999 to play a supervisory role in preventing companies with poor governance to float shares in the domestic stock market, but the CSRC has until now not released detailed information on the committee members.
It was widely reported that the last IPO committee originally had 77 members, but the CSRC increased the membership to 90 by introducing experts from overseas.
But generally only less than half of the committee members would gather together to consider an IPO application, according to local media reports.
The list of the new committee members shows that most members are still government officials, besides lawyers and accountants.
An Ernst & Young partner and a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner have also been included on the 25-member committee.
(back)China's Hui Tong says Xinjiang Hops fails to repay 10 mln yuan guaranteed loan
Xinjiang Hui Tong (Group) Co Ltd (SZA 000415) said Xinjiang Hops Co Ltd (SHA 600090), the debt-ridden barley producer whose chairman went missing in early November, has failed to repay a 10 mln yuan loan due on December 9 that had been guaranteed by Xinjiang Hui Tong.
The company said it is taking ""active measures"" to keep potential losses to a minimum, but did not provide details.
Xinjiang Hui Tong and Xinjiang Hops, which are both based in the northwest Xinjiang region, signed three contracts between September 2002 and March 2003 guaranteeing each other's loans.
On November 3, the chairman of Xinjiang Hops Ltd, Aikelamu Aishayoufu, went missing, leaving behind total liabilities of over 1.7 bln yuan.
On November 20, Xinjiang Hops voluntarily applied to the Shanghai Stock Exchange for ST (special treatment) status. The share price collapsed more than 66 pct during November 4-20. It closed today at 3.46 yuan.
(1 usd = 8.3 yuan)
中国证监会成立股票发行审核委员会
中国证券监督管理委员会(China Securities Regulatory Commission, 简称：中国证监会)新近成立的由25人组成的发行审核委员会将负责股票发售提议的初步审批和否决事宜，在这25名委员中有两名委员为香港公司的管理人士。
他们是瑞士银行(UBS AG，USB)旗下中国证券部主管袁淑琴(Nicole Yuen)和安永会计师事务所(Ernst & Young)驻上海办事处的合伙人邱家赐(K.C. Yau)。发行审核委员会负责审议首次公开募股(initial public offering, 简称IPO)和其他股票发售提议。
瑞士银行是最早及最为积极投资以人民币计价的A股和债券市场的符合合格境外机构投资者机制(qualified foreign institutional investors, 简称QFII)的投资者。安永会计师事务所则为中国数家大型公开上市公司提供顾问和税收服务。
包括5名中国证监会官员和1名中国证监会顾问在内的这25名委员会委员名单已经于周五公布在《上海证券报》上。
其他委员还包括普华永道会计师事务所(PricwaterhouseCoopers，PWC.XX)的中国合伙人、律师、会计师、上海和深圳证券交易所官员和国内基金管理公司的管理人士。
新成立的委员会将取代4年前成立的、委员身份保密的80人发行审核委员会。
这个新的发行审核委员会对股票发售提议进行审议，并建议拟发售股票的公司是否有资格公开发售股票。其会议每次由7名委员召集。
而发行审核委员会的投票结果将在中国证监会的网站上予以公布，以向投资者表示哪些公司的股票发售提议可能会被中国证监会高级官员批准。
该发行审核委员会的观点将提交给承销商用于评估。
