Notice Period of Proposed Withdrawal of Listing
|
Rule 6.11(3) of the Main Board Listing Rules and Rule 9.19(3) of the GEM Listing Rules require that an issuer whose primary listing is on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (the Exchange) and which has an alternative listing on another exchange may not voluntarily withdraw its listing on the Exchange unless it has given its shareholders at least 3 months notice of the proposed withdrawal of the listing. Issuers listed on the Exchange who wish to withdraw its listing on one board and to apply for listing on the other board of the Exchange by way of introduction and does not involve any fund raising may apply for the waiver to reduce the notice period to a minimum of 5 clear business days, subject to the conditions set out below.
|
Rule 6.11(3) of the Main Board Listing Rules and Rule 9.19(3) of the GEM Listing Rules require that an issuer whose primary listing is on the Exchange and which has an alternative listing on another exchange may not voluntarily withdraw its listing on the Exchange unless it has given its shareholders at least 3 months notice of the proposed withdrawal of the listing. This minimum notice period must run from the date on which the shareholders approve the voluntary withdrawal of listing.
The Exchange notes that certain issuers may wish to transfer the listing status from one board to the other board of the Exchange. The implementation of such transfer would involve withdrawal of listing on one board and application for new listing on the other board of the Exchange. Given that the arrangements for the transfer of the securities to and trading of those securities on the other board of the Exchange can be completed within a short period of time if the new listing on the other board is by way of an introduction and does not involve any fund raising, the 3-month notice period may not be necessary. The Exchange will therefore consider granting a waiver of the relevant Main Board Listing Rules and GEM Listing Rules to reduce the notice period to a minimum of 5 clear business days, subject to the conditions set out below.
The Securities and Futures Commission has granted its consent under Rule 2.04 of the Main Board Listing Rules and Rule 2.07 of the GEM Listing Rules for granting the above waiver subject to the conditions set out in this announcement. However, application of these guidelines to individual applications would depend on the specific circumstances of the issuer.
Eligibility
Issuers listed on the Exchange who wish to withdraw its listing on one board and to apply for listing on the other board of the Exchange by way of introduction and does not involve any fund raising may apply for the waiver of the relevant rule of the Main Board Listing Rules and GEM Listing Rules to reduce the notice period to shareholders for withdrawal of listing to a minimum of 5 clear business days. This minimum notice period must run from the date on which the shareholders approve the voluntary withdrawal of listing.
Conditions
The main conditions for granting a waiver to reduce the notice period are as follows:
-
in respect of the issuer's securities listed on the Exchange, there is no change in the board lot size or share certificates, the share registrar, and the trading currency in connection with the proposal to transfer its listing status;
-
prior approval is obtained from shareholders for the reduction of the notice period; and
-
there is no other fact that leads the Exchange to believe that the reduced notice period is not feasible.
As the above are only guidelines, we may also impose further conditions on individual applicants should we consider appropriate.
16 January 2002