from ABC News, 2000-Apr-6, from combined wire reports of Reuters and the Associated Press:

PetroChina IPO Ends Flat
Activists Declare Victory as Institutional Investors Shun Company

N E W   Y O R K, April 6 - Shares of PetroChina Co., China's largest oil and gas producer, ended their first day of trading unchanged from their initial public offering price in their controversial debut on the New York Stock Exchange.

The results were a blow to Beijing, which had hoped success of the intial public offering would speed the pace at which other major cash-strapped Chinese state enterprises go public.

But the results delighted a coalition of labor, environmental and human rights groups which had lobbied investors not to buy shares in the company to protest China's human rights record.

PetroChina has been the target of several protests, in part because of the involvement of its parent company, China National Petroleum Corp., in a refinery in U.S.-sanctioned Sudan.

The AFL-CIO helped quash interest in the initial public offering by lobbying institutional investors and setting up a Web site to publicize problems with the deal.

Stock Price Barely Budged

Faced with such strong resistance, the Chinese government over the weekend postponed plans to sell shares in SinoPec, China's second-largest oil company, and Baoshan, one of the country's largest iron and steel companies.

Despite the opposition, PetroChina was the second-most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange today, with more than 18 million shares trading hands before it ended the day unchanged at $16.43. It barely budged from its opening price, with a low for the day of $16.43 and a high of $16.50.

``This is an important rejection of an offering that is infused with political risk, corporate government risk and human rights violations,'' said Bill Patterson, director of the office of investment for the AFL-CIO.

Their triumph, however, was dimmed by statements today by the Clinton administration that the president will oppose any efforts to tie human-rights, labor or other provisions to legislation granting permanent trade privileges to China.

The administration and supporters say the favorable trade status will open vast Chinese markets to American businesses and farmers.

Core of Chinese Economy

Activists do not want to give up what they view as leverage over China from the annual review process. Labor also fears a loss of U.S. jobs.

To try and thwart the PetroChina deal, the AFL-CIO, which is the largest U.S. labor organization, joined forces with Students with a Free Tibet, the American Anti-Slavery Group and Friends of the Earth.

The offering did attract some large investors. Liberty Mutual Group, one of the biggest insurance companies in the United States, bought $57 million of PetroChina shares, according to Beijing's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Nevertheless, many of the largest pension funds in the declined to invest in PetroChina, including the New York City Employees Retirement System and TIAA-CREF, the huge pension fund that invests for millions of American teachers.

``It was important because this was a very distinct turn in the type of investments that are being marketed to our pension funds,'' Patterson said. ``This was essentially the core of the Chinese economy being marketed to Wall Street and institutional investors.''