中石油启动A股上市
中国最大的能源公司中石油(PetroChina)启动了外界期待已久的首次公开发行(IPO)，该公司可能募集逾90亿美元资金，成为中国内地规模最大的IPO。
中石油IPO的时间也进行了精心安排，以利用内地市场不断攀升的良机。在过去短短两年多的时间里，上海的基准指数已上涨了5倍。
中石油在周日晚间递交上海证交所和香港交易所的一份声明中表示，该公司计划向投资者发售40亿股A股股票。中石油是中国石油天然气集团公司(China National Petroleum Corp)的子公司。
这家国有油气集团在9月20日的招股书中曾表示，预计将募集资金378亿元人民币（合50亿美元），如今看来，这个数字有可能被超过。
如果这40亿股A股的发行价定在相当于中石油香港股票的水平，那么此次上市可能募集资金约98亿美元。
以基于中石油港股上周收盘价的标准计算，该公司市值为4370亿美元，排名全球第二，超过了通用电气(General Electric)，仅次于埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)。
在上海证交所上市后，中石油甚至可能超过埃克森美孚，成为世界上市值最大的上市公司。不过，由于中石油流通股比例很低，可以说，市值无法很好地体现该公司的真正价值。
此等估值基于一个不太可能的假设，即中石油国有母公司持有的全部非流通股，均与流通股等值。
传统上，A股股票的定价低于香港的H股，而且通常远远低于当地投资者愿意支付的价格。因此，内地上市的股票在首日上市时一般都会大幅攀升。
此前最大规模的内地上市公司是中国最大煤炭企业的子公司——中国神华(Shenhua Energy)。该公司上月在上海募集了89亿美元。中国神华得到了大约30倍的超额认购，股价在上市首日上涨了大约87%。
PETROCHINA LAUNCHES ITS IPO
PetroChina, the country's largest energy company, has launched its long-awaited local initial public offering, which could raise more than $9bn in what would be the largest domestic listing.
The IPO would also be well timed to take advantage of a soaring local share market. Shanghai's benchmark index has increased sixfold in just over two years.
PetroChina, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp, said in a statement to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges on Sunday night that it planned to offer 4bn local A-shares for sale to investors.
The state-controlled oil and gas group had said in its prospectus on September 20 that it expected to raise Rmb37.8bn ($5bn), a figure that now could be exceeded.
If the 4bn A-shares were priced at a level comparable with PetroChina's shares traded in Hong Kong, the listing could raise about $9.8bn.
PetroChina's market capitalisation, using one measure based on its closing price in Hong Kong last week, was $437bn – ranking the company as the world's second-biggest – ahead of General Electric but behind ExxonMobil.
After it lists on the Shanghai stock exchange, it could even surpass Exxon to become the world's most valuable quoted company, although the thin float arguably makes the market value a poor guide to PetroChina's true value.
Such valuations are based on the improbable projections that all of the company's non-tradable shares still held by the state parent are equal in value to the traded shares.
A-shares have traditionally been priced at a discount to Hong Kong's H-shares and often well below the price local investors are willing to pay. As a result, locally listed shares traditionally jump sharply on their debut.
The largest previous local listing was Shenhua Energy, a unit of China's largest coal company, which raised $8.9bn in Shanghai last month. Shenhua Energy was about 30 times oversubscribed and soared by about 87 per cent on its opening trading day.
