中石油啟動A股上市

中國最大的能源公司中石油(PetroChina)啟動了外界期待已久的首次公開發行(IPO)，該公司可能募集逾90億美元資金，成為中國內地規模最大的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.

中石油IPO的時間也進行了精心安排，以利用內地市場不斷攀升的良機。在過去短短兩年多的時間里，上海的基準指數已上漲了5倍。

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.

中石油在周日晚間遞交上海證交所和香港交易所的一份聲明中表示，該公司計劃向投資者發售40億股A股股票。中石油是中國石油天然氣集團公司(China National Petroleum Corp)的子公司。

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.

這家國有油氣集團在9月20日的招股書中曾表示，預計將募集資金378億元人民幣（合50億美元），如今看來，這個數字有可能被超過。

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.

如果這40億股A股的發行價定在相當于中石油香港股票的水平，那么此次上市可能募集資金約98億美元。

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.

以基于中石油港股上周收盤價的標準計算，該公司市值為4370億美元，排名全球第二，超過了通用電氣(General Electric)，僅次于埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)。

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.

在上海證交所上市后，中石油甚至可能超過埃克森美孚，成為世界上市值最大的上市公司。不過，由于中石油流通股比例很低，可以說，市值無法很好地體現該公司的真正價值。

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.

此等估值基于一個不太可能的假設，即中石油國有母公司持有的全部非流通股，均與流通股等值。

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.

傳統上，A股股票的定價低于香港的H股，而且通常遠遠低于當地投資者愿意支付的價格。因此，內地上市的股票在首日上市時一般都會大幅攀升。

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.

此前最大規模的內地上市公司是中國最大煤炭企業的子公司——中國神華(Shenhua Energy)。該公司上月在上海募集了89億美元。中國神華得到了大約30倍的超額認購，股價在上市首日上漲了大約87%。

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.