The mainland's No1 newspaper group may list its non-core assets if authorities restrict the sale of the editorial units
Shenzhen Press Group may take a pick-and-mix approach to its planned initial public offering, listing non-core assets such as property management, travel and logistics businesses as separate units.
The mainland company would prefer to list its entire operations, including editorial units, but this is unlikely to win regulatory approval as tight rules govern China's media business.
Instead, it could list non-core assets as a single unit or divide them up for investors to choose.
'We expect to list next year, either on the domestic or Hong Kong markets,' group president Wu Songying told the South China Morning Post.
'The ideal way is to go public as a whole group. But if we can't list the whole group, we can list our smaller assets first.'
The central government bans companies from listing the editorial operations of newspapers and television and radio broadcasters for fear of losing control of the nation's media, but Shenzhen Press Group hopes to be the exception.
