From Bloomberg News via the International Herald Tribune (link)
China ended a yearlong ban on initial public offerings Thursday amid a rally that had made the Shanghai stock market the world’s best performer in the past month.
The China Security Regulatory Commission, which said it would accept IPO applications beginning immediately, halted new share sales in 2005 to curb a four-year market slump and to allow the conversion of more than $200 billion of mostly state-owned equity into tradable shares.
The growth of the Shanghai stock market was hampered by the regulations, which prompted companies to seek new funding in Hong Kong and New York. But with the lifting of the ban, companies are poised to jump in: Both Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Air China plan to sell shares for the first time in Shanghai.
Also see “China resumes accepting applications for IPOs” from the Financial Times (link)
