Battling for China's IPOs

摘要

When the London Stock Exchange launched an all-out campaign to win Chinese stock listings earlier this year, executives were con-ident of success. A slew of state-owned companies were gearing up for initial public offerings, including the big four banks, giving the exchange plenty of juicy targets. Even better, the competitive playing field was wide open. The New York Stock Exchange, which over the past decade or so had won virtually all of China's major IPOs, was being shunned by Chinese companies worried about compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and fearing class-action lawsuits by American shareholders. All London had to do, it seemed, was to fight aggressively for the business.