China: Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. announced state share reform plan

Reuters reported that Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd., China's largest beer maker, said September 11 that its state parent had proposed granting 1.5 state-owned Tsingtao shares for every 10 A-shares held by domestic investors.

The grant would compensate shareholders for Tsingtao's plan to make a large block of previously untradabale shares into freely traded equity.

Chinese companies have been making this reform since last year, and Tsingtao is one of the last major firms to announce its plan.

Tsingtao did not announce any plan to offer similar compensation to holders of the company's H-shares listed in Hong Kong. H-share holders have not been compensated in previous reform plans by other companies.

Tsingtao's Shanghai-listed A-shares were suspended September 11 and will resume trading on September 21 at the latest, the company said.

13 September, 2006