BEIJING, June 2 -- China's two stock exchanges yesterday identified major shareholders who allegedly misappropriated funds raised by listed units, and urged them to reimburse the funds back to the companies.

    The two bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen yesterday for the first time released a list containing the names of controlling shareholders and the companies concerned.

    By the end of May, major shareholders of 189 listed companies were found to have allegedly misused 33.6 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) of company funds, according to a statement in the Shanghai Securities News yesterday.

    Companies such as China Worldbest Group and Heilongjiang Daqing Lianyi Petrochemical Factory were on the list.

    The list also included information about the amounts involved and repayment deadlines.

    China is working to improve corporate governance and clean up its securities industry.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission in November ordered controlling shareholders to pay off debts they owed to listed companies by the end of this year.

    Shareholders are required to pay with shares or with their own assets if they can't return misused funds on time, the regulator said this week.

    Shareholders who refuse to pay will be sued by the board of directors of the companies. Embezzled amounts of less than 10 million yuan must be repaid by the end of this month.

    Since January, 289 listed companies have either repaid or partly repaid a total 11.26 billion yuan of misused funds, making up 25.08 percent of the total amount of debts.

    The two stock exchanges said they intend to focus this year on cleaning up the debts and will release names of major shareholders and companies concerned from time to time.

    The Shanghai benchmark index has climbed over 40 percent so far this year after dropping to below 1,000 points in June.

    The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.61 percent to 1,684.19 yesterday. The Shenzhen Composite Index closed at 429.7 yesterday, up 3.04 percent.