Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions (As at 31 March 2015)

Market Operations

31 Mar 2015

Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions
(As at 31 March 2015)

					Main Board	GEM	Total
New Applications Accepted⁽¹⁾
	a.		March 2015
			(i)	Application(s) made by companies pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	11	4	15
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	2	N/A	2
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	4	N/A	4
			(iv)	Deemed new applicant(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6)	0 ________	0 ________	0 ________
Total					17	4	21
	b.		2015 Year-to-date
			(i)	Application(s) made by companies pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	21	9	30
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	2	N/A	2
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	6	N/A	6
			(iv)	Deemed new applicant(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6)	0 _________	0 _________	0 _________
Total					29	9	38
Approvals in principle granted⁽²⁾
	a.	March 2015			8	1	9
	b.	2015 Year-to-date			16	6	22
Active applications⁽²⁾ (as at 31 March 2015)
1.	Under processing⁽¹⁾:
	a.	New applications accepted since 1 January 2015			26	9	35
	b.	Others			10 _________	5 _________	15 _________
		Sub-total			36	14	50
2.	Approval in principle granted
	a.	Approvals granted since 1 January 2015			5	0	5
	b.	Others			2 _________	0 _________	2 _________
Total					43	14	57

Inactive applications⁽³⁾ (since 1 January 2015)
1.	Lapsed
	a.	Approval in principle granted but not listed prior to application lapsed		3	0	3
	b.	Others		7	3	10
2.	Rejected			3	1	4
3.	Withdrawn			1	0	1
4.	Returned⁽⁴⁾			0 _________	1 _________	1 _________
	Sub-total			14	5	19
	Offset by:
5.	Renewals⁽⁵⁾			(8)	(3)	(11)
6.	Returned cases resubmitted⁽¹⁾⁽⁶⁾			(0) _________	(1) _________	(1) _________
Total				6	1	7
No. of new listings(since 1 January 2015)
		(i)	Companies listed pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/ Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	16	9	25
		(ii)	Investment vehicle(s) listed pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	5	N/A	5
		(iii)	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	3	N/A	3
		(iv)	Deemed new listing(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6)	1 _________	0 _________	1 _________
Total				25	9	34

First Comment Letters Issued⁽⁷⁾
	a.	March 2015	16
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of application and the date of issue of related first comment letter	10

Guidance issued to potential new listing applicants or their advisers on matters relating to the Listing Rules
	a.	March 2015	13
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of request for guidance and the date of issue of written response⁽⁸⁾	6

⁽¹⁾	These are applications accepted for vetting after the initial 3-day check of the Application Proof according to a prescribed 3-day checklist, where applicable.
⁽²⁾	Includes application(s) by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules, application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to the Main Board, and deemed new applicant(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6).
⁽³⁾	Includes any application (or renewal) not approved, returned, rejected or withdrawn within six months from date of application.
⁽⁴⁾	Applications accepted for vetting but subsequently returned on the ground that the information in the listing application proof or related documents is not substantially complete.
⁽⁵⁾	Includes all applications accepted within three months following a lapsed, rejected or withdrawn application by the same applicant.
⁽⁶⁾	Applications resubmitted to the Exchange after an 8-week moratorium from the date of the return letter.
⁽⁷⁾	First comment letters are the first letters issued by Listing Division staff that contain the comments on the respective listing applications. It only covers the first comment letters issued this month. For reports issued from January 2011 onwards, non-business days have been subtracted from "the average number of days taken". The figures exclude cases for a transfer of listing from GEM to the Main Board. If included, the number of first comment letters issued is 21 and the average number of days taken is 10.
⁽⁸⁾	Covers only the guidance letters issued this month. For the reports issued from January 2011 onwards, non-business days have been subtracted from "the average number of days taken".

Delisting and Suspension Information
(As at 31 March 2015)

			Main Board	GEM	Total
(a)	Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2015)
	a.	Withdrawal of listing pursuant to privatisation	0	0	0
	b.	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	N/A	3	3
	c.	Cancellation of listing pursuant to delisting procedures under the Listing Rules	1	0	1
	d.	Voluntary withdrawal of listing	1 _________	0 _________	1 _________
Total			2	3	5
(b)	Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 31 March 2015)
	a.	Companies not in delisting procedures	29	6	35
	b.	Main Board companies in delisting procedures:
		- first stage of delisting⁽⁹⁾	4	N/A	4
		- second stage of delisting⁽¹⁰⁾	1	N/A	1
		- third stage of delisting⁽¹⁰⁾	2	N/A	2
	c.	GEM companies given 6 months' notice for delisting	N/A	1	1
	d.	Delisting approved by the Listing Committee	0	2*	2
	e.	Resumption proposals approved in principle by the Exchange subject to fulfillment of conditions	2 _________	0 _________	2 _________
Total			38	9	47

Other Information
(As at 31 March 2015)

		Main Board	GEM	Total
(c)	Number of listed companies (as at 31 March 2015)	1,565	210	1,775

⁽⁹⁾	Where the Exchange has issued a letter to the long-suspended company informing it of the commencement of the delisting procedures and that the Exchange will consider placing the company in the second stage of delisting if the company fails to submit a viable resumption proposal by the deadline set out in the letter.
⁽¹⁰⁾	Long-suspended Main Board companies having problems with sufficient operations or assets are placed in the second and third stages of delisting under Practice Note 17 to the Main Board Listing Rules.

*	One company applied to the Exchange to review the delisting decision. The review procedure is in progress.

This report is updated on the last trading day of each month.

Ends

Updated 31 Mar 2015