Mainland securities regulators are close to releasing long-awaited guidelines on the listing, spinning-off and injecting of assets into red-chip stocks, according to market sources.

Several heads of red-chip companies, including Zhu Xiaohua of China Everbright, met officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission in Beijing on Tuesday, the sources said. It is understood red-chip regulation was top of the agenda for the discussions.

Details of the guidelines were not disclosed, but sources said they were expected to say mainland regulators had the right to regulate the listing of overseas-registered mainland companies as well as to oversee their acquisition of mainland assets.