Another 27 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange will join the 21st round of split share structure reform, 10 of which are to publicize their reform plans on Monday.

 

In this round of reform, 21 participating companies are state-controlled holding companies, 77.78 percent of the total.

 

Most of the companies participating in this round of reform have huge market values. For example, Huning Motorway has a marketvalue of 32.287 billion yuan (US$4 billion), while Yili Company owns a market value of about 6.9 billion yuan.

 

The split share structure refers to the existence of both tradable shares and a large volume of non-tradable shares owned by the state and legal persons. To make all their shares tradable, listed companies participating in the reform have to offer additional shares or funds to public investors as compensation.

 

The 10 companies to publicize their reform plans on Monday agreed to give 2.94 shares per 10 on average to holders of tradable shares, a bit higher than the level in the previous rounds.

 

By Feb. 17, 2006, share reform plans of 208 companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange had been approved at the shareholders' meetings.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2006)