China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), the world’s biggest phone company by market value, has begun working on listing its shares in the domestic market, chairman and chief executive officer Wang Jianzhou (王建宙) said.
It hopes regulators will allow the listing soon, Wang said yesterday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian. Authorities are working on rules that will facilitate listings of so-called “red-chip” companies, or overseas-incorporated Chinese firms, he said.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission held an internal meeting in July to discuss setting up an international board on the Shanghai exchange on which overseas companies will trade for the first time, according to people with knowledge of the plans. Red-chip companies such as China Mobile and CNOOC Ltd (中國海洋石油) will also be allowed to list in the country, they said.
HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest bank, has hired advisers for a possible listing in Shanghai, spokesman David Hall said last month. Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), China’s biggest personal-computer maker, “looks forward” to listing its stock in the country, Chairman Liu Chuanzhi (柳傳志) said last month.
Separately, China Mobile has continued talks with Apple Inc. about offering the iPhone handset in China, Wang said. Rival China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd (中國聯通) last month said it reached a deal with the US company to sell the device in the fourth quarter.
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