China approves first IPO of domestic brokerage in five years

BEIJING, July 1 -- Chinese stock regulators approved the initial public offering (IPO) of Everbright Securities Co. Monday evening, the first domestic brokerage IPO since that of CITIC Securities Co. in early 2003. According to the prospectus Everbright released last week, it planned to sell up to 520 million shares. It didn't set a date for the offering, however. All the proceeds, which it didn't quantify, would be used to expand new businesses and increase its network to more than 100 outlets from 76 at present, it said. China Securities Regulatory Commission also approved the IPO application of China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. (CSR),the world's leading supplier of rail transit equipments. CSR planned to sell up to 3 billion A-shares, it said in the prospectus. As of 11 a.m. in the morning session on Tuesday, brokerage shares fell across almost the whole board in response to the news, with Guojin Securities edging up 2.37 percent to 41.95 yuan (5.99 U.S. dollars). CITIC Securities fell 5.18 percent to 22.68 yuan, Northeast Securities shed 2.05 percent to 21.5 yuan and Changjiang Securities lost 2.76 percent to 17.96 yuan.