By YVONNE LEE And JOANNE CHIU
HONG KONG—China International Marine Containers
(Group) Co. has been approved by Hong Kong’s stock exchange to list shares in the city, a person familiar with the transaction said, as the world’s largest producer of shipping containers shifts its listing from Shenzhen’s struggling market for foreign-currency denominated stock.
If the offering succeeds, the Shenzhen-based company would become the first Chinese company to convert its B-shares into Hong Kong-listed H-shares. Its yuan-denominated A-shares will continue to be listed in Shenzhen.
China’s B-shares, which are denominated in Hong Kong-dollars in Shenzhen and in U.S. dollars in Shanghai, were once the only access point for foreign investors seeking investments in Chinese listed shares, but investors have lost interest because the number of Class-A shares has boomed in recent years as China slowly opened up to international capital. Underscoring that shift, there has been a dearth of new B-share listings over the past decade.
China International Marine plans to be listed in Hong Kong from Dec. 19, the person said Friday. The company doesn’t plan to raise funds from the exercise.
In August, the company said it was seeking permission to convert its 1.43 billion Shenzhen-listed B-shares valued around 13.38 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$1.7 billion) into Hong Kong-listed stock.
The state-run company wants to move because extremely slow trade in its B-shares has hurt their value. A Hong Kong listing would help give the container maker a higher profile, too.
The Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng Index is up 19% so far this year. Shenzhen’s B share market is down 1.4%.
The container producer said in a statement Friday that it expects the last trading session of its B-shares to be Nov. 29, if it receives clearance from the Hong Kong stock exchange. It declined to comment further.
China International Marine, which counts Hong Kong blue-chip port operators China Merchants Holdings (International) Co.
and Cosco Pacific Ltd.
as major shareholders, posted a 52% decline in its net profit for the January-September period, as a result of lower container prices and sales amid the global shipping downturn.
The company said in August it would offer a cash option for shareholders that reject the conversion of the B-shares and buy back their shares at 9.83 Hong Kong dollars each.
The company has 2.66 billion shares outstanding, including 1.23 billion A-shares, which have traded on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange
since 1994.
Write to Yvonne Lee at yvonne.lee@dowjones.com and Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com