China Telecom set to be postponed until 2002

While there has been no official decision yet, China experts report that the Mainland government is starting to favour a 2002 listing date for China Telecom. Initially, the government had hoped to list the country's dominant fixed line player in Hong Kong and New York this July, but the huge restructuring job in hand for bookrunners Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and China International Capital Corp (CICC), had always made the fourth quarter a more realistic target.

Now, however, observers say that the schedule may be pushed back again because of a re-shuffling at the MII. In particular, speculation has been growing that MII head Wu Jichuan may finally step down under pressure from premier Zhu Rongji. Such rumours have existed for well over a year, but are said to have re-surfaced with a vengeance over the past few days.