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Unilever to List A Shares in China
Unilever, one of the world's biggest producers of consumer goods, is trying to be the first foreign company to list domestic A shares in China.
Ma Xiuhong, assistance minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, was quoted by today's "China Daily" as saying that China welcomes foreign investors to list on China's stock markets.
A spokesperson with the Shanghai headquarters of Unilever ( China) said that the news was encouraging because the company had been considering a domestic listing since the middle of last year.
"We hope that our customers here in China can also become our shareholders as an incentive for us to upgrade our services and expand our market share," she said.
There have been reports that China's securities regulatory authorities are considering revising regulations concerning the criteria for companies seeking domestic listing, which could allow foreign capital's entry into A shares available to domestic investors.
But a senior researcher with a government think-tank said allowing foreign companies to list A shares will take some time.
Today, most of the A-share stocks are State-owned companies and foreign investors are still not allowed to list or trade A shares.
Unilever has set up 14 joint ventures in China, with a total investment of 800 million US dollars, company statistics indicate.
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