Draft plan completed for issuance reform

    CHINA’S top securities regulator has completed a draft plan to reform the nation’s stock issuance regime.

    The draft plan, seen as major move in introducing a registration-based system for stock issuance, replacing the current system of administration, will be sent to the State Council for review before the end of this month, said Zhang Xiaojun, spokesman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Under the current approval-based IPO system, newly listed candidates often experience a complicated application process that can take multiple rounds of reviews and several years to receive approval from the CSRC, while the registration-based IPO system will focus on companies’ compliance review and be market-oriented and more transparent.

    Investors to buy IPOs with margin accounts

    THE Shanghai Stock Exchange, China’s biggest bourse, will allow investors to use margin trading accounts to buy shares in initial public offerings (IPOs), domestic media reported last week.

    The move could further fuel a rally in the stock market, analysts said. Investors will be able to buy into IPOs on the Shanghai Stock Exchange from Dec. 1, domestic media cited a statement by the exchange as saying. China’s stock regulator said Nov. 21 that there would not be a rush of IPOs at year-end, although the number of deals so far is short of its target.

    Momo expects to raise US$256.6m in IPO

    THE Chinese maker of social media dating and chat mobile apps, Momo Inc., expects to raise US$256.6 million from a planned stock offering, the company said in a regulatory filing Saturday.

    That figure includes shares to be sold publicly and privately and assumes shares will sell at the mid-range of its planned offering range of US$12.50-US$14.50 per American Depositary Share. Additional shares the underwriters may choose to sell aren’t included.

    BAIC Motor to test investor appetite for IPO

    BAIC Motor Corp., a Chinese carmaker partly owned by Daimler AG, is planning to start gauging investors’ interest this week in an initial public offering which could raise in between US$1.2 billion and US$1.5 billion in Hong Kong.

    The carmaker received listing approval from Hong Kong’s regulators Thursday and plans to take orders from investors Dec. 8, a source familiar with the situation said Friday. The company plans to list in Hong Kong on Dec. 18, the source said.