HKEx: Report On Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting And Suspensions (As At 31 December 2015)

Report on Initial Public Offering Applications, Delisting and Suspensions (As at 31 December 2015)

					Main Board	GEM	Total
New Applications Accepted⁽¹⁾
	a.		December 2015
			(i)	Application(s) made by companies pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	10	9	19
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	0	N/A	0
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	1	N/A	1
			(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					11	9	20
	b.		2015 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	119	66	185
			(ii)	Application(s) made by investment vehicle(s) pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	9	N/A	9
			(iii)	Application(s) for transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	18	N/A	18
			(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					151	66	217
Approvals in principle granted⁽²⁾
	a.	December 2015			10	5	15
	b.	2015 Year-to-date			118*	33	151
Active applications⁽²⁾ (as at 31 December 2015)
1.	Under processing⁽¹⁾
	a.	New applications accepted since 1 January 2015			39	33	72
	b.	Others			1 _________	1 _________	2 _________
		Sub-total			40	34	74
2.	Approval in principle granted
	a.	Approvals granted since 1 January 2015			12	2	14
	b.	Others			0 _________	0 _________	0 _________
Total					52	36	88

Inactive applications⁽³⁾ (since 1 January 2015)
1.	Lapsed
	a.	Approval in principle granted but not listed prior to application lapsed		10	2	12
	b.	Others		28	19	47
2.	Rejected			7	2	9
3.	Withdrawn			5	4	9
4.	Returned⁽⁴⁾			1 _________	2 _________	3 _________
	Sub-total			51	29	80
	Offset by:
5.	Renewals⁽⁵⁾			(29)	(17)	(46)
6.	Returned cases resubmitted⁽¹⁾⁽⁶⁾			(0) _________	(1) _________	(1) _________
Total				22	11	33
No. of new listings(since 1 January 2015)
		(i)	Companies listed pursuant to Chapter 8 of the Main Board Listing Rules/ Chapter 11 of the GEM Listing Rules	90	34	124
		(ii)	Investment vehicle(s) listed pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules	14	N/A	14
		(iii)	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	14	N/A	14
		(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)	4 _________	0 _________	4 _________
Total				122	34	156

First Comment Letters Issued⁽⁷⁾
	a.	December 2015	13
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of application and the date of issue of related first comment letter	12

Guidance issued to potential new listing applicants or their advisers on matters relating to the Listing Rules
	a.	December 2015	17
	b.	Average number of days taken between the date of request for guidance and the date of issue of written response⁽⁸⁾	6

⁽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".
*	An application was approved in June 2015 but subsequently lapsed in August 2015. The renewed application was reconsidered due to major changes to the application and the previous approval was overturned by the Listing Committee in December 2015.

Delisting and Suspension Information
(As at 31 December 2015)

			Main Board	GEM	Total
(a)	Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2015)
	a.	Withdrawal of listing pursuant to privatisation	1	0	1
	b.	Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board	N/A	14	14
	c.	Cancellation of listing pursuant to delisting procedures under the Listing Rules	1	2	3
	d.	Voluntary withdrawal of listing	6 _________	0 _________	6 _________
Total			8	16	24
(b)	Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 31 December 2015)
	a.	Companies not in delisting procedures	34	4	38
	b.	Main Board companies in delisting procedures:
		- first stage of delisting⁽⁹⁾	6	N/A	6
		- second stage of delisting⁽¹⁰⁾	8	N/A	8
		- 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	0	0	0
	e.	Resumption proposals approved in principle by the Exchange subject to fulfillment of conditions	1 _________	0 _________	1 _________
Total			51	7	58

Other Information
(As at 31 December 2015)

		Main Board	GEM	Total
(c)	Number of listed companies (as at 31 December 2015)	1,644	222	1,866

⁽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.

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