New-share checks ending, says CSRC

Inspections on the price-setting process of new shares are coming to an end, said the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Friday.

Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesman for the commission, said it has finished field investigations targeted at 13 principal underwriters and 44 book-building participants of recent initial public offerings.

"We will release the result of the investigations after an overall assessment," added Zhang.

The "random inspections" came amid China's resumption of IPOs after a year-long listing freeze. Forty-five companies have gone public on the A-share market since the end of last year, raising 30.1 billion yuan, with four offerings still under suspension.

The pricing of Chinese drug maker Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, the offering of which was delayed last month, is said to have triggered the round of inspections, according to analysts.

Aosaikang had published a financing plan to issue 55,466,000 shares at 72.99 yuan ($12.07) per share, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67, far higher than the average PE level in the pharmaceutical sector. In the offering, 43.6 million of the shares to be issued were to be transferred from the holdings of former shareholders.