US soft-drinks giant Coca-Cola is considering listing on the Shanghai stock exchange as China's main bourse moves toward launching an international board, a report said on June 01. The Hong Kong Economic Journal quoted a company spokesman as saying it is "interested in exploring the opportunity of listing our stock on the Shanghai exchange."
"We continue to have positive discussions with Chinese government officials as we look at this opportunity," Geoff Walsh, Coca-Cola's public affairs and communications director for Asia-Pacific, told the paper.
In October, the firm opened three bottling plants in China's Inner Mongolia region at a cost of about $246 million, part of its three-year, $2 billion expansion plan in the country, the report said. Coca-Cola's stock currently trades on the New York stock exchange.
The larger of China's two bourses has been pushing forward with plans to see foreign firms list as part of a long-term strategy to turn Shanghai into an international financial hub.