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BOC prepares list on HK stock exchange
(Asia Pusle)
Updated: 2005-12-09 13:53 In response to speculation that the Bank of China
(BOC) will submit an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week, and
supplement related financial data in early 2006 to prepare for a listing in
March 2006, informed sources said that related preparation work is still under
way, with the BOC yet to submit its application.
However the BOC has entered final preparations, and there should be no doubt
that BOC will issue IPO in Hong Kong in the first half of 2006.
Sources from investment circle predict that BOC is likely to follow China
Construction Bank (CCB) in issuing fully circulating H shares, but at a price
higher than that of CCB.
CCB was the first of China's "Big Four" state-owned banks to go public in
Hong Kong, with the examination and approval of its listing only taking a short
period of time. BOC is the second "Big Four" bank to apply and it may not take
long for its listing to be approved.
According to experts, the IPO price of BOC is unlikely to be lower than that
of CCB, and is also unlikely to be much higher.
With stock exchanges in the United States and London inviting Chinese
enterprises to go public, BOC president Li Lihui said his bank will select one
or two stock exchanges in Hong Kong, New York, London and the Mainland China to
issue stock.
But there are also experts saying that BOC may only go public in Hong Kong
and become a full-circulating H share, like CCB.
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