L & L Financial Holdings said it plans to apply for listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The Seattle company is currently listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board exchange. It was found by Dickson Lee, shown here, who you might like to consider an Old China Hand.

Mr. Lee was an executive of KPMG (New York) and Director of Finance for NYNEX (now Verizon) Asia Pacific operations in 1993. Dickson served as a judicial member of the Hong Kong SEC Insider Dealing Tribunal (a trial court) for six years.

According to the company’s website, L & L serves ‘as a bridge to connect business between the U.S. and China.’ It has offices in Seattle and in Shenzhen, Kunming and Liuzhou in China and has 400 employees.

According to the web site: ‘The company is aggressively acquiring established growing energy entities and coal mines, using its American management skills, U.S. accounting and finance knowledge to take advantage of growing China markets.’ The Company recruited Kong Ling-Min, Senior Geological Engineer, to strengthen its mining operations. Mr. Kong is to supervise the Tian-Ri Coal Mine in Yunnan Province of China.

The Tian-Ri Coal Mine has a government exploration permit and with a coal reserve of an estimated 53 million tons of high grade coal and an estimated $7.3 billion value.
Source: Puget Sound Business Journal

Nasdaq has opened an office in Beijing , a move that will let it step up efforts to attract more Chinese firms to list on the exchange.

Stock exchanges around the world are trying to lure Chinese firms to list with them as investors seek to capitalize on the rapid growth of the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Nasdaq trades the shares of 52 Chinese companies with a combined market capitalization of $57 billion.

Guang Xu, Nasdaq’s managing director for Asia, told a news conference that 19 of them have joined Nasdaq so far this year, compared with nine in 2006, and there will be at least one more listing by the end of 2007.

Guang Xu described the 2008 pipeline of initial public offerings of Chinese firms as strong, especially for energy-related companies, but declined to put a figure on it.

Nasdaq itself will consider listing its shares in Shanghai if China changes its regulations to permit listings of foreign companies.

However, Nasdaq and similar international markets such as the Growth Enterprise Board in Hong Kong face mounting competition as China redoubles its efforts to build its own Nasdaq-style board.

Beijing has already promised to lift a moratorium by the end of the year on new foreign brokerage joint ventures.
Source: Reuters

The U.S. stock market Nasdaq has received Chinese government permission to open a representative office in Beijing as more companies from China issue shares abroad.

China originally agreed in December to let Nasdaq Stock Market and the New York Stock Exchange open offices in Beijing.

Nasdaq says 49 Chinese companies are traded on its market and China could soon become its biggest source of non-U.S. listings.

Chinese companies have issued shares on U.S. and European markets to raise money and increase their visibility abroad.

Eric Landheer, Nasdaq’s head of Asia Pacific, said in a statement, ‘Having a representative office in China will enhance our ability to provide the highest level of value and service to Chinese companies.’

The illustration shows a sign in New York which says China International Labor Day. Listed on Nasdaq. And that was May 2004. Which you could either call previous or prescient.
Source: Canadian Business Com