bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Kandy Wong

Chery Automobile, which makes the QQ minicar, is going ahead with plans to list in either Hong Kong or Shanghai after the mainland regulator ended a nine-month moratorium on new share sales.
'Chery has resumed its preparations to go public and is conducting due diligence,' said Chery spokesman Jin Yibo. 'But we don't have substantial details like the size of the offer or total funds we will raise.'
China International Capital Corp is handling the share offering.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved five share sale plans since the end of the listing hiatus in June - China State Construction Engineering Corp, Sichuan Expressway, Guilin Sanjin Pharmaceutical, Zhejiang Wanma Cable and Your-Mart.
Chery applied for a domestic listing in June 2008 but the application was shelved as mainland stock markets were hit by the financial crisis.
Mr Jin said the company had not yet made a decision on whether to list in Hong Kong or Shanghai.
'Chery would like to list within this year as car sales on the mainland were strong [in the first half] and stock markets are starting to rebound,' said Chen Qiaoning, an analyst at ABN Amro Teda Fund.
Sales of passenger vehicles hit a record 874,000 units last month, a 48.5 per cent year-on-year increase. Vehicle sales grew 25.62 per cent in the first half to 4.53 million units. Chery aims to sell 419,000 cars this year, up from 356,000 units last year.
The carmaker, which relied on the overseas markets previously, will focus more on domestic sales after the central government implemented support measures to push purchases in second and third-tier cities earlier this year.
Chery raised 2.9 billion yuan (HK$3.29 billion) last month by selling less than 20 per cent of the company to third-party investors, including Huarong Asset Management Corp, Bohai Investment Fund and Rongde Asset Management, the joint venture between Huarong and Deutsche Bank.
The company has been chosen by the central government to become one of the nation's top eight carmakers, which means it is expected to merge with its smaller rivals in an industry consolidation.
'We're certainly in talks with [Anhui-based light-truck maker] Jianhuai Automobile about a possible merger,' said Mr Jin without further elaboration.
Chery is not the only carmaker interested in listing on the mainland. Alternative vehicle maker BYD said earlier it planned to list up to 100 million A shares on the Shenzhen stock exchange.
'The company believes an A-share issue will establish a new financing platform and broaden [its] access to different securities market,' said chairman Wang Chuanfu in a company statement. 'This will enable the company to enhance the development of its operations and further improve its competitiveness.'
Additional reporting by Martin Zhou



Chery Auto pursues listing after regulator ends IPO ban