Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions (As at 31 October 2016)

Market Operations

31 Oct 2016

Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions
(As at 31 October 2016)

					Main Board	GEM	Total
New Applications Accepted
	a.		October 2016
			(i)	Application(s) made by companies pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	7	11	18
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	3	N/A	3
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	0	N/A	0
			(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					10	11	21
	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	111	94	205
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	34	N/A	34
			(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					159	94	253
Approvals in principle granted⁽¹⁾
	a.	October 2016			14	2	16
	b.	2016 Year-to-date			103	37	140
Active applications⁽¹⁾ (as at 31 October 2016)
1.	Under processing
	a.	New applications accepted since 1 January 2016			65	68	133
	b.	Others			2 _________	2 _________	4 _________
		Sub-total			67	70	137
2.	Approval in principle granted
	a.	Approvals granted since 1 January 2016			15	4	19
	b.	Others			0 _________	0 _________	0 _________
Total					82	74	156

Inactive applications⁽²⁾ (since 1 January 2016)
1.	Lapsed
	a.	Approval in principle granted but not listed prior to application lapsed		17	7	24
	b.	Others		37	36	73
2.	Rejected			6	5	11
3.	Withdrawn			3	1	4
4.	Returned⁽³⁾			1 _________	3 _________	4 _________
	Sub-total			64	52	116
	Offset by:
5.	Renewals⁽⁴⁾			(29)	(29)	(58)
6.	Returned cases resubmitted⁽⁵⁾			(0) _________	(0) _________	(0) _________
Total				35	23	58
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	55	33	88
		(ii)	Investment vehicle(s) listed pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	30	N/A	30
		(iii)	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	6	N/A	6
		(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)	3 _________	0 _________	3 _________
Total				94	33	127

First Comment Letters Issued⁽⁶⁾
	a.	October 2016	29
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of application and the date of issue of related first comment letter	22

Guidance issued to potential new listing applicants or their advisers on matters relating to the Listing Rules
	a.	October 2016	10
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of request for guidance and the date of issue of written response⁽⁷⁾	8

⁽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 30 and the average number of days taken is 22.
⁽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 31 October 2016)

			Main Board	GEM	Total
(a)	Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2016)
	a.	Withdrawal of listing pursuant to privatisation	5	0	5
	b.	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	N/A	6	6
	c.	Cancellation of listing pursuant to delisting procedures under the Listing Rules	1	1	2
	d.	Voluntary withdrawal of listing	4 _________	0 _________	4 _________
Total			10	7	17
(b)	Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 31 October 2016)
	a.	Companies not in delisting procedures	31	1	32
	b.	Main Board companies in delisting procedures:
		- first stage of delisting⁽⁸⁾	2	N/A	2
		- 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	2*	2
	e.	Resumption proposals approved in principle by the Exchange subject to fulfillment of conditions	0 _________	0 _________	0 _________
Total			50	3	53

Other Information
(As at 31 October 2016)

		Main Board	GEM	Total
(c)	Number of listed companies (as at 31 October 2016)	1,695	248	1,943

⁽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 31 Oct 2016