Two mainland companies have filed applications for simultaneous listing of H shares and A shares, Paul Chow, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchange (HKEx) said here Saturday.

Chow said with the joints efforts of HKEx, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and related mainland parts, the simultaneous listing of H shares and A shares are expected later this year.

He said different IPO (Initial Public Offering) period, different pricing structure and different applicable regulation are the three hurdles to be solved.

By the end of 2004, 304 mainland companies get listed in Hong Kong, among which, 30 companies have both issued A share and H share in different time.

According to a research by Joseph Lee and Joanna Poon from research department of Hong Kong SFC, A-shares have been trading at premiums over H shares due to limited supply of A shares and investment restrictions to overseas investors, but the premiums was narrowed from the weighted average of some 830 percent at the end of 2000 to 39 percent at the end of 2004.

Statistics show that between the end of 2000 and the end of 2004, the Price/Earning ratio for the Shanghai A and Shenzhen A market receded from 59 times and 56 times at the end of 2000 to 24times and 26 times at the end of 2004. In contrast, the Price/Earning ratio for H shares advanced from 9 times to 16 times over the period, while that for the Hang Seng Index components increased from 13 times to 20 times.

Analysts said that price convergence of A and H share makes the simultaneous listing more feasible.

Source: Xinhua