China's Zhongwang defends IPO prospectus, seeks review

HONG KONG, Nov 3 (Reuters) - China Zhongwang Holdings (1333.HK) has asked an accounting firm to conduct an external review of its April initial public offering after media reports alleged it had misrepresented certain parts of its prospectus.

Zhongwang, Asia's biggest maker of aluminium extrusion products, raised $1.3 billion on April 30, making it at the time the world's largest IPO in nearly a year.

In September, local media reported allegations that some customers referred to in Zhongwang's prospectus did not buy from the company last year.

In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late on Monday, Zhongwang defended the accuracy of the prospectus and outlined the various efforts it has gone through to prove the reliability of the information.

The company confirmed the accuracy of the information in its prospectus and said it has asked one of "the big four international accounting firms as an external auditor," to conduct an independent review of the company's sales transactions during the period of January 2008 through June this year.

The South China Morning Post said on Tuesday that Zhongwang had hired Ernst & Young to conduct the audit. A spokesman at E&Y declined to comment.

Citic Securities and UBS AG (UBSN.VX) were joint sponsors for the IPO. Both banks declined to comment. (Reporting by Farah Master and Michael Flaherty; Editing by Lincoln Feast)