China's Nasdaq-like bourse kickstarts

BEIJING: China has opened one more door in the business area, though this time it has done so after six long years of deliberations.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved the first list of seven companies, who will be listed on the new Nasdaq-like stock exchange board called Growth Enterprise Market.

With this, GEM has formally opened up after several phases of nail-biting suspense when government officials came close to launching it and held back at the last minute because they were not confident how the new boat will sail in the stormy market waters. The CSRC has been encouraged by the rising prices at the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets in recent weeks, sources said.

The companies to get the green light belong to areas software, medical equipment and medicines. They plan to raise a total of 2.27 billion yuan ($332.65 million) though initial public offers before the listing, the regulator said.

���This means the seven enterprises are eligible to list on the market, but they still have some flaws in information issuance, which need to be improved,��� Jiang Xinhong , a member of CSRC���s review team was quoted in the official media as saying.

The regulator explained that the flaws that have been noticed did not come in the way of approving their proposals for listing but the concerned companies are expected to follow the necessary procedures before getting listed.

The CSRC has been cautious in its selection of seven companies, who have been handpicked from among 155 applications from companies wishing to launch IPOs and get GEM listing.

It had begun accepting applications on July 26.