Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions (As at 31 December 2014)

Market Operations

31 Dec 2014

Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions
(As at 31 December 2014)

					Main Board	GEM	Total
New Applications Accepted⁽¹⁾
	a.		December 2014
			(i)	Application(s) made by companies pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	7	2	9
			(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	2	12
	b.		2014 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	121	38	159
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	18	N/A	18
			(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)	5 _________	0 _________	5 _________
Total					156	38	194
Approvals in principle granted⁽²⁾
	a.	December 2014			17	4	21
	b.	2014 Year-to-date			130	18	148
Active applications⁽²⁾ (as at 31 December 2014)
1.	Under processing⁽¹⁾:
	a.	New applications accepted since 1 January 2014			27	11	38
	b.	Others			0 _________	1 _________	1 _________
		Sub-total			27	12	39
2.	Approval in principle granted
	a.	Approvals granted since 1 January 2014			18	3	21
	b.	Others			0 _________	0 _________	0 _________
Total					45	15	60

Inactive applications⁽³⁾ (since 1 January 2014)
1.	Lapsed
	a.	Approval in principle granted but not listed prior to application lapsed		22	1	23
	b.	Others		26	17	43
2.	Rejected			6	7	13
3.	Withdrawn			5	2	7
4.	Returned⁽⁴⁾			3 _________	1 _________	4 _________
	Sub-total			62	28	90
	Offset by:
5.	Renewals⁽⁵⁾			(23)	(8)	(31)
6.	Returned cases resubmitted⁽¹⁾⁽⁶⁾			(0) _________	(2) _________	(2) _________
Total				39	18	57
No. of new listings(since 1 January 2014)
		(i)	Companies listed pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/ Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	96	19	115
		(ii)	Investment vehicle(s) listed pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	12	N/A	12
		(iii)	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	7	N/A	7
		(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				116	19	135

First Comment Letters Issued⁽⁷⁾
	a.	December 2014	3
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of application and the date of issue of related first comment letter	11

Guidance issued to potential new listing applicants or their advisers on matters relating to the Listing Rules
	a.	December 2014	8
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of request for guidance and the date of issue of written response⁽⁸⁾	5

⁽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
⁽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 December 2014)

			Main Board	GEM	Total
(a)	Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2014)
	a.	Withdrawal of listing pursuant to privatisation	2	0	2
	b.	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	N/A	7	7
	c.	Cancellation of listing pursuant to delisting procedures under the Listing Rules	0	0	0
	d.	Voluntary withdrawal of listing	4 _________	0 _________	4 _________
Total			6	7	13
(b)	Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 31 December 2014)
	a.	Companies not in delisting procedures	30	5	35
	b.	Main Board companies in delisting procedures:
		- first stage of delisting⁽⁹⁾	1	N/A	1
		- second stage of delisting⁽¹⁰⁾	0	N/A	0
		- third stage of delisting⁽¹⁰⁾	2	N/A	2
	c.	GEM companies given 6 months' notice for delisting	N/A	3	3
	d.	Delisting approved by the Listing Committee	1*	0	1
	e.	Resumption proposal approved in principle by the Exchange subject to fulfillment of conditions	3 _________	0 _________	3 _________
Total			37	8	45

Other Information
(As at 31 December 2014)

		Main Board	GEM	Total
(c)	Number of listed companies (as at 31 December 2014)	1,548	204	1,752

⁽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.

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

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

Ends

Updated 31 Dec 2014