DAIMLER-BENZ intends next year to seek a stock exchange listing in Singapore, and possibly Shanghai, as part of a plan to broaden the company's presence in the Asia. The plans for the listings were revealed in New York last week at a press conference held to announce Daimler's compromise with United States authorities over accounting standards that will allow it to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Mr Gerhard Liener, the group's finance director, said that the agreement with the US authorities would lead directly to listings of its stock on other exchanges worldwide. Daimler has already received an assurance from Singapore authorities that the group's acceptance of US accounting standards will smooth the path towards a listing on the Singapore stock exchange. Daimler shares are already traded in Tokyo. The result of the compromise with the Securities Exchange Commission is that Daimler's group accounts will in the future be produced according to US generally accepted accounting practice (US GAAP). Daimler has not received, nor sought, a similar assurance from the Shanghai authorities, although Mr Liener and other senior officials visited the Shanghai stock exchange earlier this year. Preparations for the listing in Shanghai's fledgling markets are at an early stage. Daimler-Benz is considering opening a bus assembly factory near Shanghai and setting up a joint venture with a local company to make rolling stock for underground railways. AEG, Daimler's electrical's subsidiary, is leader of a German consortium which has built the first 14 kilometre of an underground railway network for the city of Shanghai.
