CHINA’S securities regulator Friday issued rules for a pilot program allowing listed companies to issue preferred shares, paving the way for the long-awaited program to be launched soon in what the regulator called a major capital market reform.

    Three types of listed companies would be allowed to issue preferred shares either to the public and to institutional investors via private placements.

    The firms include the 50 largest capitalized firms in the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s blue-chip SSE50 index, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement.

    Analysts have widely predicted the first preferred shares to be included in the trial will be shares in banks. Sources said earlier that major State-owned banks, which are among China’s biggest index heavyweights, have already prepared share tenders.

    The second group of listed firms include those which intend to acquire or absorb their counterparts by issuing preferred shares, while the third group covers those which aim to use preferred shares to replace existing ordinary shares, the CSRC said in the statement published on its microblog.

    Non-listed companies can also sell preferred shares but only to institutional investors via placements, according to the new rules. Any firms issuing preferred shares to institutions must sold them to no more than 200 entities in one issue.

    “The trial of preferred shares is a major reform and innovation in our country’s capital markets,” CSRC spokesman Zhang Xiaojun told a regular weekly presser in Beijing.

    “The CSRC will continuously improve and perfect the preferred share mechanisms on the basis of summing up experimental experiences,” Zhang said.

    Among other provisions, companies would be allowed to issue such shares in batches after winning regulatory approval for total quotas at one time, according to the CSRC statement.

    CSRC officials earlier last week said the time was ripe for China to start trialing preferred shares, and that all listed and non-listed companies could ultimately apply for issuance.

    Preferred shares pay fixed dividends and enjoy seniority over common stockholders in the event of bankruptcy. But in other respects, they have limited impact on common shareholders. They typically do not trade on the open market, carry no voting rights and do not dilute net profits attributable to shareholders.

    Stock market investors have thus been eagerly anticipating their introduction, hoping they will allow listed companies to raise funds from stock markets without diluting valuations.

    In addition, many investors have long complained that too many listed firms are required to sacrifice profitability in favor of wider policy priorities.

    They view the introduction of preferred shares as a way for the government to convert its massive holdings of traded shares into inert preferred shares, diluting government influence while increasing the value of other investors’ holdings.

    The move will especially help lift investor sentiment about Chinese banks, many of which are among the top 50 Shanghai-listed companies, because they are in need of additional capital as a rapid expansion of lending and stricter capital requirements by regulators have exhausted capital bases.

    “By helping the banks, it will also improve the overall mood toward blue chips,” said Amy Lin, senior analyst at Capital Securities. (SD-Agencies)