Five companies in Beijing may issue stock to the public this year for the first time, but officials say the capital is not yet ready to follow other cities in setting up a stock market, a state-run newspaper reported Sunday.
The English-language China Daily said five Beijing enterprises have submitted applications for issuing share offerings to the State Council, China's Cabinet, for a final decision after reviews by the central bank and the municipal government.The companies include a department store, a cosmetics manufacturer, a waste recovery concern, a bus manufacturer and a high technology firm.
The newspaper suggested the firms could begin selling stock to the public later this year. It said the offering would be the first to the public by Beijing enterprises, although companies in southern regions have already been allowed to issue shares.
But the China Daily quoted government officials as saying the shares would have to be traded at the country's pioneering stock exchanges in Shanghai and in southern Shenzhen bordering Hong Kong, since Beijing is unlikely to start its own exchange.
"The time is not yet ripe," said Dai Bin, financial markets division chief of the Beijing branch of the People's Bank of China.
She said the capital "would wait and see until more laws and regulations guiding stocks and investments are formulated."