High-speed railway announces Shanghai IPO
Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway Co Ltd is expected to list on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on January 6, according to initial public offering documents.
The company kicked off the offering process in a letter of intent issued on Wednesday. It will list through an IPO of no more than 6.28 billion shares.
The share price is yet to be unveiled.
The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is the busiest and the most profitable railway in China. The company’s net profits rose from 7.9 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) in 2016 to 9.05 billion yuan and 10.24 billion yuan, respectively, in the following two years. In 2019, it is expected to record 9.52 billion yuan in profit.
Having a total length of 1,318 kilometers, it runs through seven provinces and cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai. The railway has been operating since 2011 under the umbrella of China State Railway Group Co Ltd.
“The listing of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will help national railway enterprises develop a mixed ownership economy, promote the optimization and adjustment of the capital structure, and promote the high-quality development of China's railway,” said an official with the group who declined to be named.