Nasdaq sees strong attraction for China companies

Nasdaq sees strong attraction for China companies

	Published : Tue, 03 Apr 2007 17:35 By : Agencies Print this Story

BEIJING (AFX) - Nasdaq has had a strong start to the year in its bid to list Chinese companies and the market does not seem to be hurt by concerns over the dollar or the US economy, Nasdaq president Robert Greifeld said.

'We have had a roaring start,' he said at a ceremony in the Chinese capital, marking the start of Nasdaq trading today.

'On balance the US economy is doing very well,' he said at the ceremony that was broadcast live by satellite to New York.

While there have been concerns about the weakening US dollar as well as the health of the US economy, particularly the subprime housing market and consumer spending, Nasdaq has not lost its appeal to Chinese companies.

The US electronic market has already listed six China-linked companies this year compared with nine for all of last year.

'The US regulatory situation is not seen as an impediment,' Greifeld added.

Tougher reporting requirements, particularly those under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, may have deterred some of China's biggest initial public offers from choosing the US in the recent past.

Big banks such as the China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China have shied away from the US, preferring to list shares in Hong Kong.

But Greifeld said that some companies may see the higher standards of a US IPO as a positive factor.

He also suggested that China is likely to figure highly in the market's listing plans in future.

'We see that China has stepped forward on the world's economic stage,' Greifeld said. 'Certainly China is a very important market to us today and in the years to come.'

Nasdaq has some 40 China-linked companies with a market capitalization of more than 30 bln usd.

Many of the senior executives of these companies, and other potential listing candidates, attended the Beijing ceremony.

Xinhua Finance Media, a unit of Xinhua Finance, which owns the Xinhua Finance newswire, is one such China-linked company that had shares listed on Nasdaq this year.