中国银行获准香港首发上市Bank of China gets key approval for HK IPO Bank of China, China's top foreign exchange lender, has secured key approval from the State Council to launch a HK$60 billion (US$7.7 billion) Hong Kong initial public offering in the first half of 2006, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Monday. The listing plan awaited a final approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the South China Morning Post reported, citing sources close to the situation. The bank may file a preliminary listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as soon as this week, the paper added. The offering, which Bank of China previously planned to complete before April, was now most likely to be launched in May, the paper quoted the sources as saying. The offering would value the bank at 400 billion yuan (US$49.6 billion), the paper said.上市公司可能被许出售股份Listed firms may be allowed to sell shares The country's regulators will consider allowing listed firms to sell shares as a first step toward lifting its suspension on new IPOs in domestic markets, but no timetable has been set, domestic media reported Monday. China is proceeding with a series of market reforms aimed at reviving its shares markets, which remain mired in a four-year slump. In mid-2005, China suspended new IPOs in domestic markets in an effort to prop up sagging stock prices, weighed down by investor concerns over the share-reform plan to sell more than US$250 billion in State-held shares. "We will look at allowing listed companies to sell shares before approving any new IPOs," the Financial News quoted Shang Fulin, the top securities regulator, as saying at a conference. Reforms in state-held shares need to be b...
