State-run CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船), formerly known as China Shipbuilding Corp, has gained the stock exchange regulator’s approval to trade its shares on the local bourse.
Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (台灣證交所) said on its Web site late on Wednesday it had approved the Kaohsiung-based shipbuilder’s initial public offering (IPO) application.
CSBC is the nation’s largest shipbuilder and the first among its local rivals to apply for an IPO. Its pre-tax earnings reached NT$662 million (US$20.8 million) for the first half of the year, compared with earnings of NT$2.43 billion last year and NT$1.46 billion in 2006, the stock exchange said.
After-tax earnings per share were NT$0.88 for the first six months this year, compared with NT$2.76 a share last year and NT$2.33 in 2006, the stock exchange said.
CSBC’s business scope includes manufacturing and maintaining container vessels, bulk carriers, tankers and naval ships, as well as machinery manufacturing engineering.
The company filed for an IPO in March this year. CSBC president Lee Chih-cheng (李志誠) said at the time that the company hoped to list on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in early November.
CSBC, which is majority-controlled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, plans to sell 51 percent of its shares, or 340 million shares, to the public for a total of NT$6.66 billion, or NT$19.59 per share.
Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) is the underwriter of the shipbuilder’s share sale.
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