China Railway Construction Corp, the world's seventh largest
construction contractor, has been approved as a promoter to
establish the China Railway Construction Company Ltd., paving the
way for its listing on mainland stock market, the State-owned
Assets Supervision and Administration of China revealed
yesterday.
China's Company Law stipulates that the promoter for the
establishment of a joint stock company must subscribe to all the
shares to be issued by the company.
The new company will inherit major assets of the promoter and
take project contracts as its core business. Other business
includes consultation on survey and design, industrial
manufacturing, real estate development, capital operation and
logistics.
Chairman Li Guorui was reported earlier this year to have
expressed the wish to list the corporation, which is the dominant
Chinese firm in the overseas construction market compared with
other domestic rivals.
Established 1948, the military troop-turned-corporation
registered 150 billion yuan (US$20.1 billion) in turnover last year
and was entrusted with a number of well-known projects including
the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Shanghai Maglev line.
The government has accelerated the listing of large state-owned
enterprises mainly in oil and chemicals, telecommunications,
transportation and metallurgy industries.
On October 2, SASAC Minister Li Rongrong said the next three
years could see the full listing of more eligible centrally
administered state-owned enterprises or their main businesses.
In 2006, the total assets of central SOEs hit 12.2 trillion
yuan, up 46.5 percent from the figure in 2003. Their revenue stood
at 8.3 trillion yuan, up by 85.3 percent.
SASAC, the assets regulator, set up in 2003 to take control of
big state companies, has been cutting the number of major SOEs by
promoting mergers and acquisitions and allowing poorly performing
state firms to go bankrupt.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2007)
