The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), jointly released Consultation Conclusions today (Friday) to allow the issue of paper application forms for public offers of certain securities without paper listing documents, subject to conditions set out in a class exemption (referred to below as the Mixed Media Offer). 

The exemption will allow companies seeking to list shares and debentures on SEHK by public offers to distribute paper application forms as long as the prospectus is available on the Internet, subject to certain conditions. Similar waivers will be granted to issuers of SFC-authorised collective investment schemes that will be listed on SEHK.

“The proposal represents a balanced approach that facilitates market efficiency without undermining investor protection, given that investors will still have access to printed prospectuses and that issuers must satisfy exemption conditions and requirements," said Brian Ho, the SFC's Executive Director, Corporate Finance. "We further hope that this initiative will reduce wastage of paper prospectuses, in line with environmental protection.”   

 “The Mixed Media Offer will give issuers greater flexibility on prospectus information dissemination as the popularity of Internet continues to grow," said HKEx's Head of Listing Mark Dickens. “While a truly electronic environment for prospectus information dissemination requires more careful consideration, we continue to encourage issuers to create shorter and more concise prospectuses.” 

The SFC and SEHK received wide support for the proposal from professional associations, market practitioners, law firms, members of the public and an environmental group(Note 1).

The Exemption Notice, subject to negative vetting, will become effective on 1 February 2011. The Listing Rules amendments will take effect when the Exemption Notice becomes effective.

The Consultation Conclusions are available on the SFC website and the HKEx website. The websites also have relevant rule amendments and a set of frequently asked questions on the Mixed Media Offer (Note 2).

Notes:

1. On 1 April 2008, the SFC and SEHK issued the “Joint Consultation Paper on the Proposal to allow a Companies Ordinance (CO) Offeror to issue a CO Paper Application Form for Shares in or Debentures of a Company to be listed on SEHK and a Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) Offeror to supply a CIS Paper Application Form for Interests in an SFC- authorised CIS to be listed on SEHK, with a Listing Document Displayed on Certain Websites.”
   
   
2. Amendments to the Main Board Listing Rules and GEM Listing Rules are available on the HKEx and Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) websites, while a set of frequently asked questions on the Mixed Media Offer is available on the SFC, HKEx and GEM websites.
   

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