China to launch first gold stock in May
chinaonline.com
(27 February 2003) Zhongjin Gold Corp., China’s largest gold supplier, is expected to go public this May, signaling the debut of China’s first gold stock.
“Zhongjin is expected to list this May at the Shanghai Stock Exchange,” Wang Fujiang, vice president of China National Gold Corp. (CNGC), Zhongjin’s parent company, was quoted by Thursday’s Beijing Chenbao (Beijing Morning Post) as saying.
“It plans to issue 100 million shares to raise between 600 million yuan (US$72.46 million) and 700 million yuan (US$84.57 million) of capital,” he said.
According to Beijing Chenbao, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has ruled that a company’s initial public offering price cannot exceed 20 times the earning per share. Last year, Zhongjin’s earnings per share stood at 0.2 yuan (US$0.0242). Therefore, it is estimated that its IPO price would not exceed 4 yuan (US$0.483), and the total amount of funds to be raised would be around 400 million yuan (US$48.31 million).
Meanwhile, the restructuring of CNGC has been completed, and the new group company will be operational during the second half of this year.
CNGC, with 9 billion yuan (US$1.09 billion) of assets and 61 subsidiaries, is the world’s 18th-largest gold producer. Its gold output accounting for 11 percent of China’s total.
CNGC President Cheng Fumin said that the company’s total assets are expected to expand to 15 billion yuan (US$1.81 billion) in the next few years, and the gold reserves under its control will increase from the current 30 percent to between 35 percent and 38 percent of China’s total.
“By year 2005, the group company’s profit would grow from 2002’s 120 million yuan (US$14.49 million) to 300 million yuan (US$36.23 million), and its output will be doubled to 40 tons,” said Vice President Wang Fujiang. |
