THE Shanghai Stock Exchange is examining share trading by executives at the two biggest Chinese trainmakers before their US$12.3 billion merger was announced, China’s securities regulator said Friday.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission is aware that management of China CNR Corp. and CSR Corp. traded the two firms’ shares in the six months before their shares were halted, it said. The regulator will take action if any violations are found, it said.

    Eleven employees of CNR, including chairman Cui Dianguo, traded Shanghai-listed shares of CSR in the six months before they were halted for the merger announcement, the firms said in a Dec. 30 joint filing to the Shanghai bourse. Two CSR employees had transactions of CNR stock during the same period.

    CSR said last month it will issue stock to acquire CNR, a move intended to boost exports of the country’s high-speed rail technology. Shares of both firms hit their 10 percent maximum daily trading limit for six consecutive trading days after they resumed trading Dec. 31.

    CNR’s chairman traded shares of the firm’s CSR based on public information and stopped purchases after he learned of the merger plan, the firm said in a Jan. 13 statement.

    No senior manager of CSR traded shares of either firm in the six months before the trading was halted, the firm also said in a separate filing Jan. 13. (SD-Agencies)