Imperial Pacific joining MSCI China Index

Nov 16, 2015 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World  

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Hong Kong-listed casino investor Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd said in a filing on Friday that its shares would become a constituent of the MSCI China Index, with effect from the close of trading on November 30.

Imperial Pacific had stated in a filing on November 3 that its “temporary casino” on the Pacific Island of Saipan would “officially open on November 27”.

The casino property had a soft opening on July 26. VIP gaming operations started on November 1, Imperial Pacific said in its November 3 filing. The firm has pledged to spend as much as US$7.1 billion on a permanent casino resort on Saipan.

MSCI Inc is a U.S.-based provider of equity, fixed income and hedge fund stock market indexes.

According to a fact sheet on the MSCI company website, the MSCI China Index “captures large and mid-cap representation across China H-shares, [China] B-shares, red chips and P chips”.

“With 143 constituents, the index covers about 84 percent of this China equity universe,” adds the fact sheet.

“H-shares” are shares of a company incorporated in the Chinese mainland that is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange or other foreign exchange. “B-shares” refers to shares in companies based in mainland China that trade on either the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock exchanges.

So-called “red chips” are businesses that are based in mainland China and controlled, either directly or indirectly, by the central, provincial or municipal governments of the Peoples’ Republic of China but listed in Hong Kong to allow overseas investment in the companies. “P chips” refers to Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong exchange that are incorporated either in the Cayman Islands or Bermuda or the British Virgin Islands, with operations in mainland China, and are run by private-sector Chinese business people.

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