.jpg)
HKEx received comments from a total of 40 respondents and the overwhelming majority expressed support for the abolition of the requirement. Based on the responses received, some key conclusions are as follows:
- As an interim measure, the short-form announcement Main Board issuers will be required to publish in newspapers will be a notification rather than a summary announcement. Phase 1 as described in the Exposure Paper, ie the transitional period during which Main Board issuers will be required to publish the notifications will last six months;
- Full announcements of Main Board issuers will be published on the HKEx website. A Main Board issuer must also publish the full announcement on its own website (if any). A Main Board issuer without its own website must publish the full announcement in the newspapers as well as on the HKEx website;
- One year after the commencement of Phase 1 every issuer must have its own website where the public must be able to access documents free of charge. For the purposes of this requirement, the issuer's website does not need to be hosted on a domain owned or directly operated by the issuer. The issuer's website may be hosted on a third-party domain so long as the website is assigned a dedicated location on the Worldwide Web and the website may be maintained by third-party providers.
Most proposals in the Exposure Paper will either be adopted or adopted with modifications. Further information on this is available in the section entitled "Operational Model".
HKEx believes that the abolition of the requirement to publish paid announcements in newspapers and the introduction of news dissemination-related enhancements will benefit the market as a whole. Among the advantages of web-based dissemination are the timeliness of disclosure, the cost effectiveness of disclosure and the widespread availability of the disclosed information. The electronic dissemination of issuers' Listing Rules-related announcements through the HKEx website - a single, official, centralised location that can be easily accessed by both local and overseas investors - will bring HKEx into line with other leading international equity markets.
HKEx will make a further announcement in due course regarding the commencement date for Phase 1 (which is currently intended to be at least six months after the publication of the Exposure Conclusion and also subject to operational readiness).
For full details click here.
The Exposure Conclusion is available on the HKEx website at http://www.hkex.com.hk/consul/conclusion/npa.pdf.
