China's stock transfer

China's stock transfer

Lex 2009-06-23

The state, like the Lord, gives and takes away. Russian oligarchs learned the lesson earlier this decade. Now it is China's turn. Beijing this weekend ordered state institutions to transfer shares of listed companies that they own into the social welfare fund.

At first blush, Beijing is simply switching shares from one pocket into another: 826 state-owned institutions, including regional governments, will park part of their holdings into the National Social Security Fund. The amount is equivalent to 10 per cent of the amount each company raised at its initial public offering, a total of $9.3bn. And the edict is retroactive, covering 131 companies that have listed on mainland stock markets since 2005.

But transferring shares without payment raises issues, even when kept within the family. There may be no land grabs or oligarchs tossed into jail, as in Russia, but China is in effect ordering owners to surrender assets for free. This is unusual, even by China's standards. When assets were transferred into China Investment Corp, the sovereign wealth fund paid for them via a complex bond financing.

The move reinforces the manipulated nature of China's equity markets. Just as more shares are coming on-stream with the re-opening of the local IPO market, so some are being taken off-stream. Shares transferred to the NSSF will be subject to a three-year lock-up. Yet another reminder that investors in Chinese stocks, like Job, need more than a bit of stoicism.

Lex专栏：中国“转持”令

政府就像上帝一样，一会儿施舍，一会儿又拿走。俄罗斯寡头在本世纪之初得到了这个教训。现在轮到了中国。北京上周末下令国有机构将所持上市公司股票转移到社会保障基金。

乍看之下，北京只是在把股票从一个口袋放到另一个口袋：包括地方政府在内的826家国有机构，将把部分持股转至全国社会保障基金，数额相当于每家公 司首次公开发行时实际发行股份数量的10%，市值达93亿美元。这项法令将追溯实行，涉及2005年以来在中国内地证交所上市的131家公司。

但是，不作支付就转移股票，会带来各种问题，即便交易各方都是“一家人”。也许没有俄罗斯那样的抢占土地或把寡头关进监狱，但中国实际上是在命令股 东无偿交出资产。即便按中国的标准，这也是不寻常的。当资产转移到中国投资公司(China Investment Corp)时，这个主权财富基金还通过一笔复杂的债券融资交易，为接手这些资产付了款。

再说，这些股东并非全都是不折不扣的政府成员。据里昂证券(CLSA)介绍，其中11家是上市实体，因此普通股民也会蒙受损失。其余的是政府机构，但它们本来可能希望用自己所持的股票，为自己的合资企业或项目出资。该法令还把地方政府一级的资金集中到中央一级的金库。 此举强化了中国股市受到操纵的性质。就在重启IPO，让更多股票进入股市流通之际，另一些股票从市场上退出。划转全国社保基金的股票将有3年禁售期。这又一次提醒人们，中国股票的投资者，需要有不止一点点的坚忍，就像《圣经》中的约伯(Job)。