CNBM & Sinoma merger could complete by year-end

China National Building Material Group Co (CNBM) said that it will complete merging with China National Materials Group Corp (Sinoma) by December or early next year.

The announcement came after nine subsidiaries of the two groups suspended trading last week. Various media outlets, quoting business insiders, indicated they were accelerating the merger. The merger was first unveiled in August last year after the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, approved the deal.

The exchange ratio has been set at one Sinoma share to exchange for 0.85 CNBM share. President of CNBM, Cao Jianglin, described the share ratio as "reasonable," adding that it takes into consideration the companies' historical stock prices, status of operations and future developments.

The merger will see CNBM acquiring Sinoma's shares, with the latter delisted from the Hong Kong stock market.