Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Hong Kong Bourse Bets on New IPO Inflow from Eased Listing
Rules
John Cheng and Kiuyan Wong
Bloomberg Thu., April 29, 2021, 6:39 p.m.
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong is counting on a fresh inflow of overseas firms selling shares in the financial hub as it proposes to ease its listing rules.
The exchange is seeking to lure more firms, in particularly those from mainland China amid tension over their ability to trade on U.S. exchanges. It has proposed expanding listing rules to include secondary listings to all companies as long as they have one vote per share. Currently, only innovative and high growth dual-class share firms are eligible for secondary listings in Hong Kong. It also wants to lower the minimum market capitalization for secondary listings.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. has estimated about 18 Chinese companies currently listed elsewhere could take advantage of the new rules. “Through these changes, HKEX will become more welcoming and accommodating to overseas potential issuers,” Christina Bao, head of global issuer services, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday.
Even so, it faces formidable competition from the U.S., whose depth of capital has long been a potent lure for Chinese companies. Despite tensions and U.S. sanctions being imposed, Chinese firms are listing in the U.S. at the fastest pace ever.
Bao, however, said Hong Kong offers advantages, and those that have chosen to sell shares in the city this year have a larger average float size than those which opted for the U.S. “If issuers are seeking a wide recognition from both mainland China and the rest of the world, Hong Kong is the place,” she said.
The exchange this week reported record quarterly earnings in the first three months of the year driven by a boom in listings. Funds raised in initial public offerings jumped ninefold in the period. Big name Chinese companies such as streaming platform Bilibili Inc. and search giant Baidu Inc. sold shares.
The new rules are the next step after the exchange operator in 2018 introduced major reforms to allow companies with weighted voting rights and pre-revenue biotech firms to list in Hong Kong. That brought tech giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Meituan and Xiaomi Corp. to the city and made it the world’s second largest biotech fundraising hub.
Since the new rules were introduced, 146 new economy companies have listed in Hong Kong, accounting for 61% of the IPO funds raised, according to HKEX’s data. Among them were 31 pre-revenue biotech companies and 13 secondary listings.
These companies made up 95% of funds raised in the first quarter of this year, Bao said.
The consultation period on the new proposal runs until May 31.
Translation
（彭博社）- 香港放寬其上市規則，指望新的海外公司的流入,
在香港金融中心出售股票。
該交易所尋求吸引更多的公司，特別是來自中國大陸的公司，因為它們在美國交易所交易的能力有懸念。它提議擴大上市規則，包括對所有公司的第二次上市，只要它們每股擁有一票即可。目前，只有創新和高增長的雙股股票公司才有資格在香港二次上市。它還希望降低二級上市的最低市值。
香港交易及結算所有限公司估計，目前在其他地方上市的約18家中國公司可以利用新規定。交易所全球發行部主管Christina
Bao週四在接受彭博社採訪時表示： “通過這些變化，香港交易所將變得更加受歡迎和適應海外潛在發行人。”
即便如此，交易所仍面臨來自美國的強大競爭，長期以來，其資本深度一直吸引著中國公司。儘管出現了緊張局勢和美國施加了製裁，但中國公司仍以有史以來最快的速度在美國上市。
Christina Bao說，香港具有優勢，而那些選擇今年在香港出售股票的公司的平均流通量要比選擇美國的要大 。” 又她說: “如果發行人正要在尋求由中國大陸和世界其他地區的廣泛認可，香港就是這個地方。”
該交易所本週報告了在上市旺盛的推動下，今年前三個月的季度收益創歷史新高。在此期間，首次公開募股籌集的資金猛增了九倍。流媒體平台Bilibili
Inc.和搜索巨頭Baidu
Inc.等著名的中國公司出售了股票。
新規則是繼交易所運營商在2018年進行重大改革之後的下一步，當時允許具有加權投票權的公司和營收前的生物技術公司在香港上市。因為這樣，阿里巴巴集團控股有限公司，美團和小米公司等科技巨頭來到了這座城市，並使其成為全球第二大生物技術籌資中心。
根據香港交易所的數據，自引入新規定以來，已有146家新經濟公司在香港上市，佔新募集資金的61％。其中有31家營收前的生物技術公司和13家二次上市公司。
Christina Bao說，這些公司佔今年第一季度募集資金的95％。
新提案的諮詢期至5月31日。
So, Hong Kong is counting on a fresh inflow of
overseas companies to sell shares in this financial hub by proposing a relaxation in its listing rules so as to lure more Chinese companies. Hong Kong becomes a
window for China to attract international investment.
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