CSRC mulls more funding from overseas

The securities regulator is considering measures to support local enterprises in raising funds abroad, a spokesperson from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said over the weekend, without revealing further details.

Media reports said it indicated that the regulator wants to find alternative financing channels for poorly funded firms, while maintaining controls on initial public offerings in the mainland market.

At the end of last year, the CSRC started to ease the rules for mainland companies in listing overseas, including canceling the net profit requirements, as part of the effort to ease fundraising pressure on smaller companies.

Companies in the mainland are still subject to approval from the CSRC under its preliminary review procedures before seeking financing overseas.

So far, the mainland has more than 1,000 companies listed overseas, among which Hong Kong-listed firms, known as red-chip firms, have a total market capitalization of $1.8 trillion, according to figures provided by Guo Shuqing, former head of the CSRC, at the Asian Financial Forum on January 14.