Author: Chief China Economist's Office, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
REPORT SUMMARY
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK, or the Exchange) consulted the market in February 2018 on proposed amendments to its Listing Rules to expand the original listing regime to facilitate the listing of companies from emerging and innovative sectors. In the consultation, a new concessionary route to secondary listing for large innovative companies already listed on qualified exchanges was also proposed. With broad market support, the relevant amendments to the Main Board Listing Rules were implemented on 30 April 2018. This paper presents, in a succinct way, the listing requirements stipulated in the respective newly introduced chapters of the Listing Rules for companies with weighted voting rights (WVR) structures, biotech companies and companies seeking a secondary listing in Hong Kong. For companies with weighted voting rights (WVR) structures, the applicant shall be an innovative company and companies already listed are not allowed to apply for a
change into WVR structures. Besides, the listing requirements also introduced the restrictions on WVR beneficiaries, additional listing requirements and shareholder protection and so on. For biotech companies, the applicant must have developed at least one core product beyond the concept
stage and shall be primarily engaged in R&D for the purposes of developing its
core product(s). Besides, the listing requirements also introduced the requirements for placement to cornerstone investors and original shareholders, special measures to manage risks and so on. For secondary listing, the applicant also shall be an innovative company. Besides, the listing requirements also qualified three types of qualifying issuers, i.e., Grandfathered Greater China Issuer, Non-Grandfathered Greater China Issuer and Non-Greater China Issuer, under Chapter 19C. FULL REPORT