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100 local firms to list on LSE by 2010

By Hu Yuanyuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-28 10:03

There will be 100 Chinese companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) by 2010, jumping from the existing 74, the Lord Mayor of the City of London said on Friday.

"This is part of the deal achieved in the first China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue in mid-April," said Alderman David Lewis, the Lord Mayor of City of London. He said that he expects foreign trade between the two countries to grow from the current $4.5 billion to $6 billion by 2010.

"There will be several Chinese companies going to the main board of LSE this year, mostly from the mining and consumer products industry," Nancy Jiang, chief representative of LSE Beijing office, said.

The LSE currently has 74 Chinese companies listed from around 20 sectors, of which six are on the exchange's main board and 68 are on the AIM, the market for smaller firms. The LSE said 17 Chinese companies joined the exchange last year, raising $1.9 billion, but all are listed on the AIM.

"LSE provides access to a different liquidity pool and a different investor base featuring institutional investors with long-term approaches. As Chinese internationalize, they will want access to the euro zone, which it offers," Lewis said, referring to the market of 300 million consumers that use the European currency.

As one of the most international equities exchanges in the world and Europe's largest liquidity pool, LSE has over 700 global companies from over 70 countries quoted on its markets. By the end of 2007, the market capitalization of UK and international companies on the LSE amounted to 4.23 trillion pounds.

According to Lewis, London is also an ideal platform for Chinese enterprises to make overseas mergers and acquisitions as the UK has a very open and welcome attitude to foreign investors, including sovereign funds.

"Due to the market correction, London's property market, especially the official building and commercial property sectors have been undervalued, offering pretty attractive investment opportunities," said Lewis, adding that the China Investment Corp (CIC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) are both quite interested in London's property market

CIC's spokeswoman Bai Xiaoqing said that the sovereign fund spoke about such investment opportunities with the City of London but has not made any material investment so far.