
In an extreme case, trading in shares of Xinjiang Yilu Wanyuan Industrial Investment, a loss-making ceramic products maker, has been suspended for about 20 months. "The issue is that in a freely accessible market, investors want to be able to get in and get out. If a market falls, they still want to be able to get out," said Chia. "But if you suspend, investors cannot get out, that will be a problem." Seasoned foreign investors in China`s A-share market concur.
"You can tolerate losing money, but you cannot tolerate not being able to trade," said Anthony Cragg, a senior portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Asset Management who manages $2.2 billion in several funds - including one dedicated to China.Exploiting loopholes
The rules announced last year specify that in the case of a private share placement, suspension time on the Shanghai stock exchange cannot exceed one month. The Shenzhen stock exchange stipulates a maximum of six months for a trading suspension in the event of a company restructuring. Yet, plenty of companies, particularly smaller companies, are able to exploit these relatively loose suspension rules. This month, when China`s start-up board ChiNext tumbled to 2-1/2-year lows, companies listed there — including H and R Century Union Corp., Xinlong Holding Group Co. and Galaxy Biomedical Investment — quickly suspended share trading, citing various reasons, ranging from margin calls to restructuring, or waiting for the release of price-sensitive information. Xu Caiyuan, a prominent activist investor, said many Chinese companies were "playing dead" to avoid price falls, so that major shareholders facing margin calls could maintain control by "trapping small investors.
0 comments:
Post a Comment