Direct financing move to strengthen market

Shareholders of listed companies can issue exchangeable bonds from yesterday to broaden the channels of direct financing, China's securities watchdog said yesterday.

Exchangeable bonds that are somewhat like of corporate bonds can be exchanged for shares, based on set conditions.

A China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) official said that as soon as the draft regulation on bonds was released in September, many shareholders began discussing the possibility of issuing exchangeable bonds. Most of these people hold big companies' shares.