Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions (As at 30 September 2016)

Market Operations

30 Sep 2016

Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions
(As at 30 September 2016)

					Main Board	GEM	Total
New Applications Accepted
	a.		September 2016
			(i)	Application(s) made by companies pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	18	19	37
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	7	N/A	7
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	1	N/A	1
			(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					26	19	45
	b.		2016 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	104	83	187
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	31	N/A	31
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	12	N/A	12
			(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)	2 _________	0 _________	2 _________
Total					149	83	232
Approvals in principle granted⁽¹⁾
	a.	September 2016			19	9	28
	b.	2016 Year-to-date			89	35	124
Active applications⁽¹⁾ (as at 30 September 2016)
1.	Under processing
	a.	New applications accepted since 1 January 2016			73	59	132
	b.	Others			3 _________	5 _________	8 _________
		Sub-total			76	64	140
2.	Approval in principle granted
	a.	Approvals granted since 1 January 2016			18	9	27
	b.	Others			0 _________	0 _________	0 _________
Total					94	73	167

Inactive applications⁽²⁾ (since 1 January 2016)
1.	Lapsed
	a.	Approval in principle granted but not listed prior to application lapsed		15	7	22
	b.	Others		31	31	62
2.	Rejected			4	5	9
3.	Withdrawn			3	1	4
4.	Returned⁽³⁾			1 _________	3 _________	4 _________
	Sub-total			54	47	101
	Offset by:
5.	Renewals⁽⁴⁾			(24)	(26)	(50)
6.	Returned cases resubmitted⁽⁵⁾			(0) _________	(0) _________	(0) _________
Total				30	21	51
No. of new listings(since 1 January 2016)
		(i)	Companies listed pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/ Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	46	25	71
		(ii)	Investment vehicle(s) listed pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	25	N/A	25
		(iii)	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	4	N/A	4
		(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)	2 _________	0 _________	2 _________
Total				77	25	102

First Comment Letters Issued⁽⁶⁾
	a.	September 2016	14
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of application and the date of issue of related first comment letter	17

Guidance issued to potential new listing applicants or their advisers on matters relating to the Listing Rules
	a.	September 2016	11
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of request for guidance and the date of issue of written response⁽⁷⁾	6

⁽¹⁾	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).
⁽²⁾	Includes any application (or renewal) not approved, returned, rejected or withdrawn within six months from date of application.
⁽³⁾	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.
⁽⁴⁾	Includes all applications accepted within three months following a lapsed, rejected or withdrawn application by the same applicant.
⁽⁵⁾	Applications resubmitted to the Exchange after an 8-week moratorium from the date of the return letter.
⁽⁶⁾	First comment letters are the first letters issued by Listing Department 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 15 and the average number of days taken is 17.
⁽⁷⁾	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 30 September 2016)

			Main Board	GEM	Total
(a)	Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2016)
	a.	Withdrawal of listing pursuant to privatisation	2	0	2
	b.	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	N/A	4	4
	c.	Cancellation of listing pursuant to delisting procedures under the Listing Rules	1	0	1
	d.	Voluntary withdrawal of listing	4 _________	0 _________	4 _________
Total			7	4	11
(b)	Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 30 September 2016)
	a.	Companies not in delisting procedures	32	1	33
	b.	Main Board companies in delisting procedures:
		- first stage of delisting⁽⁸⁾	1	N/A	1
		- second stage of delisting⁽⁹⁾	8	N/A	8
		- third stage of delisting⁽⁹⁾	9	N/A	9
	c.	GEM companies given 6 months' notice for delisting	N/A	0	0
	d.	Delisting approved by the Listing Committee	0	3*	3
	e.	Resumption proposals approved in principle by the Exchange subject to fulfillment of conditions	1 _________	0 _________	1 _________
Total			51	4	55

Other Information
(As at 30 September 2016)

		Main Board	GEM	Total
(c)	Number of listed companies (as at 30 September 2016)	1,687	243	1,930

⁽⁸⁾	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.
⁽⁹⁾	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.

*	The companies applied to the Exchange to review the delisting decisions. The review procedures are in progress.

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

Ends

Updated 30 Sep 2016