China's IPO review brings business to print shop

BEIJING - To glimpse how eager Chinese companies are to seek initial public offerings (IPO), one could look at a certain print house first, according to Monday's edition of the Beijing Youth Daily.

As hundreds of Chinese companies line up to get regulatory approval for listing, Rongda Print, a private print house located at the Sunshine Jiayu Golden Hotel near the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), has found the regulatory authority's strict review process to be just what it wished for.

Rongda accounts for about 90 percent of the printing market filled by those IPO-seeking companies, according to the newspaper.

It quoted an ex-employee of Rongda as estimating that an IPO-seeking company would have to spend at least 100,000 yuan (about 16,100 U.S. dollars) on paperwork to get the regulatory approval for listing.

According to CSRC rules, Chinese companies must pass a 10-step review process before being allowed a listing on the country's equity markets.

The securities regulator suspended approving IPO applications in late July last year after many investors complained that massive offerings have drained liquidity from the stock markets and therefore were to blame for the market weakness.

The CSRC started to review financial statements by companies seeking IPOs again in April 2012, leading to hundreds of companies applying.

CSRC data showed the list waiting for regulatory examination involves 173 companies seeking IPOs in Shanghai, and 319 planning IPOs in Shenzhen, while the reviews of over 63 companies have been stopped.