Despite recent debate on whether a developing A-share bubble had led to a short-lived market slowdown, the main index is once again showing signs of livening up, right before Spring Festival.

Asset injections are seen as the main trigger of investor enthusiasm and will lead market growth in the coming months.

Specific to the mainland, "asset injection" refers to the placement of high-quality assets from State-owned enterprises (SOEs) into their listed subsidiaries. Industry insiders also call this practice "SOEs listing in their entirety".

Shares in some listed SOEs have seen impressive growth since they publicly announced asset injections or were believed to have carried out such activities.

Listed SOE Hudong Heavy Machinery Co Ltd said on January 29 it would issue 400 million shares to buy a package of high quality assets from its parent company China State Shipbuilding Corporation. By Monday, the Shanghai-based company's share price had jumped 97 percent. 

On February 5, another listed SOE, Dongfang Electrical Machinery Co Ltd, said it would purchase a 68.05 percent share in Dongfang Boiler (Group) Co Ltd from its parent Dongfang Electric Corporation by issuing 367 million A shares. The move pushed its share price up 43 percent by Monday.

Asset injection activities are not limited to central government SOEs. Local listed SOEs such as Shenzhen Airport Co Ltd and Guangxi Guiguan Electric Power Co Ltd that carried out asset injection plans rose 19 percent and 16 percent respectively in February.

Investor confidence in these companies is based on an expectation that China's continual efforts to restructure its SOEs, especially those directly owned by the central government, will help improve their competitiveness.

The expectation was especially inspired by a government guideline released in December by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). The guideline urged high quality SOEs to either go public directly or inject their high quality units into their existing listed companies after restructuring.

"The Chinese government guidelines for SOE restructuring imply a significant increase in asset injections from parents to their listed companies in the coming years, and it could become an important source of earnings potential," said Ma Jun, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Greater China, in its Themes and Strategy for 2007.

There were 196 SOEs under central government control in 2004. Now there is 159, and SASAC has vowed to reduce the figure to between 80 and 100 by 2010.

Li Rongrong, minister of the SASAC, said in January that the restructuring of SOEs, especially those directly owned by the central government, will enter a critical stage this year. He urged firms to carry out further strategic restructuring and improve corporate governance to sharpen their competitive edge.

Meanwhile, China's successful securities reform to convert State-owned non-tradable shares to tradable ones since April 2005 has provided a solid foundation for SOEs to go public.

"After the accomplishments of the securities reform, the interests of major shareholders, top managers and small shareholders are all connected together, and this triggered the major shareholders' motives to increase their company's competitiveness and, most of the time, the leading position in respective industries by listing," said Zhu Yucheng, an analyst with the Deding Investment Consultancy Company.

Investor speculation has sparked dramatic price movement on rumored asset injection activities by some public companies. On February 9, as many as seven companies such as Qingdao Aucma Co Ltd and Shenzhen Heungkong Holding Co Ltd publicly denied such plans.

Though asset injection provides good opportunities for investors to buy, analysts warned that they should focus on firms with clear asset injection plans and avoid blind speculation.

(China Daily February 15, 2007)