2007-10-20

Chinese Stocks: The American Option

If you want to invest directly in China without purchasing shares in Mainland companies, there are many stocks available on the American exchanges. These companies must comply with American listing standards, although as Jonathan Weil points out, that isn't necessarily saying much.

The are several major differences between the available stocks. First, some are ADRs of Chinese state-owned companies. China Mobile (CHL) falls in this category. Some of these companies have very odd share structures, such as China Yuchai (CYD). Shareholder Peter Delgado, II, is an activist shareholder in CYD, and he's written several articles on the company. Anyone who's serious about investing in state-owned companies should read his articles, which can be found on Seeking Alpha.

Next are Chinese companies that have listed directly on a U.S. exchange. Since it is difficult to list on the mainland exchanges, many companies chose to list overseas—especially Chinese internet companies. Here's a small part of Shanda's investor relations FAQ:
20. Where and when was Shanda incorporated?
Shanda was incorporated in the Cayman Islands in November 2003, however, our business was founded in December 1999 under the Shanghai Shanda Networking Co., Ltd.

21. Where is Shanda's stock listed?
Shanda's stock is listed on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker symbol SNDA.

22. When did Shanda go public, and at what price?
Shanda issued 13,854,487 ADSs (American Depository Shares) on May 13, 2004 at U.S. $11 per ADS in its initial public offering (IPO). On June 2, 2004, Shanda held the closing for the over-allotment option in connection with its IPO. At this closing an additional 1,505,634 ADSs were purchased from Shanda and the selling shareholders, which increased the total outstanding Shanda ADSs to 15,360,121 and the total outstanding Shanda ordinary shares to 141,818,280.


Finally, there are American companies who do the vast majority of their business in China. A good example of this is Chindex (CHDX).

You can find American listed Chinese companies with market caps over $50 million at the website for the Halter USX China Index.

No comments:

Post a Comment