Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting Proceedings and Suspensions (As at 31 December 2008)

Market Operations

31 Dec 2008

Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting Proceedings and Suspensions
(As at 31 December 2008)

					Main Board	GEM	Total
New Applications Accepted
	a.		December 2008
			(i)	Ordinary Companies	1	0	1
			(ii)	Application(s) by investment vehicle(s) under Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	0	N/A	0
			(iii)	Migration / Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	0	N/A	0
			(iv)	Deemed new applicant(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6)	0 __________	0 __________	0 ________
			Sub-total		1	0	1
	b.		2008 Year-to-date
			(i)	Ordinary Companies	100	5	105
			(ii)	Application(s) by investment vehicle(s) under Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	16	NA	16
			(iii)	Migration / Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	15	N/A	15
			(iv)	Deemed new applicant(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6)	1 __________	0 __________	1 ________
			Sub-total		132	5	137
Approvals in principle granted by the Listing Committee(1)
	a.	December 2008			5	0	5
	b.	2008 Year-to-date			103	2	105
Active applications(1) (as at 31 December 2008)
1.	Under processing (based on listing application form accepted):
	a.	New applications accepted since 1 January 2008			25	2	27
	b.	Others			0 __________	0 __________	0 ________
		Sub-total			25	2	27
2.	Approval in principle granted by the Listing Committee but not yet listed
	a.	Approvals granted since 1 January 2008			23	0	23
	b.	Others			1	0	1
Total					49	2	51

				Main Board	GEM	Total
Inactive applications ⁽²⁾ (since 1 January 2008)
1.	Lapsed
	a.	Approval in principle granted by the Listing Committee but not listed prior to application lapsed		59	1	60
	b.	Others		49	1	50
2.	Rejected			0	1	1
3.	Withdrawn			5 __________	3 __________	8 ________
	Sub-total			113	6	119
4.	Renewals⁽³⁾			(37)	(2)	(39)
Total				76	4	80
No. of new listings (since 1 January 2008)
		(i)	Ordinary Companies	29	2	31
		(ii)	Investment vehicle(s) listed under Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	7	N/A	7
		(iii)	Migration / Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	18	N/A	18
		(iv)	Deemed new listing(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6)	1 __________	0 __________	1 ________
		Total		55	2	57

First Comment Letters Issued ⁽⁴⁾
	a.	December 2008	2
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of application and the date of issue of related first comment letter ⁽⁵⁾	16

Guidance issued to potential new listing applicants or their advisers on matters relating to the Listing Rules
	a.	December 2008	1
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of request for guidance and the date of issue of written response ⁽⁵⁾	17

⁽¹⁾	Includes application(s) by investment vehicle(s) under Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules, application(s) for migration / transfer of listing from GEM to the Main Board, and deemed new applicant(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 8.21C or Main Board Listing Rule 14.84, and very substantial acquisition(s) treated as reverse takeover(s) under Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6).
⁽²⁾	Includes any application (or renewal) not approved, rejected or withdrawn within six months.
⁽³⁾	Includes all applications accepted within three months following a lapsed, rejected or withdrawn application by the same applicant.
⁽⁴⁾	First comment letters are the first letters issued by the staff of the Listing Division that contain the Listing Division’s comments on the respective listing applications.
⁽⁵⁾	The statistics used cover only the first comment letters/guidance letters issued in this month and non-business days have not been subtracted from the numbers of average days reported.

Other Information
(As at 31 December 2008)

			Main Board	GEM	Total
(a)	Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2008)		8*	21^#	29
(b)	i)	Number of Main Board companies at the second stage of delisting (as at 31 December 2008)⁽⁶⁾	3	N/A	3
	ii)	Number of Main Board companies at the third stage of delisting (as at 31 December 2008)⁽⁶⁾	6	N/A	6
(c)	Number of Main Board and GEM companies that has been served a notice of intention of cancellation of listing (as at 31 December 2008)⁽⁷⁾		1	2	3
(d)	Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 31 December 2008)		32	8	40
(e)	Number of listed companies (as at 31 December 2008)		1,087	174	1,261

*	Including two companies that withdrew their listings pursuant to a privatisation, a company that withdrew its listing pursuant to a merger with another listed company and three companies that withdrew their listings pursuant to a compulsory acquisition.
#	Including 18 companies that withdrew their listings on GEM and subsequently listed on the Main Board.
⁽⁶⁾	The delisting procedures for the Main Board and GEM are different. 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. There is no Practice Note in relation to the delisting of GEM companies.
⁽⁷⁾	The Main Board company is given notice of the Stock Exchange’s intention to cancel its listing under Main Board Listing Rule 6.10. The GEM companies are given notice of the Stock Exchange’s intention to cancel their listings under the ambit of GEM Listing Rules 9.14 to 9.18.

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

Updated 31 Dec 2008