(Yicai Global) Dec. 30 -- China’s securities watchdog upbraided China International Capital Corporation, the country’s top investment bank, for mishandling Lenovo Group’s application for a USD1.6 billion secondary share sale in Shanghai.

CICC failed to perform diligently its role as sponsor to the world’s largest maker of personal computers, the China Securities and Regulatory Commission said in a notice yesterday, after it called in the five CICC executives who were involved in the deal for talks on Dec. 23.

The Beijing-based bank did not properly evaluate Lenovo’s scientific and innovative attributes necessary to list on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like Star Market, as it mainly relied on the explanatory documents provided by Lenovo to draw conclusive opinions on the PC maker, the CSRC said.

Lenovo announced on Oct. 10 that it had withdrawn its application two days earlier, just eight days after it was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Beijing-based company said it had made the decision after considering the market situation and because the financial data in its prospectus could become invalid during the review process due to the firm’s complex business scale.

Lenovo was not qualified to list on the Star Market, The Paper reported on Oct. 9, citing experts, adding that the firm’s research and development expenses account for less than 3 percent of the total, while the Star Market’s rules require a figure of at least 5 percent.

The company planned to use 45 percent of the new funds for re-investment and as a supplement to circulating assets, while the Star Market requires the funds to be allocated to tech innovation, The Paper said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione