HKEX relaxes rules for IPOs by pre-profit tech companies
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
(AVCJ by Larissa Ku) – The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has loosened its listingrequirements to allow pre-profit technology companies to go public withmarket capitalisations as low as HKD 6bn (USD 764m).
The HKD 6bn threshold applies to companies with annual sales in excess of HKD 250m.Otherwise, the minimum market capitalisation is HKD 10bn. Additional requirements includesignificant participation by sophisticated independent investors – who have been shareholdersfor at least 12 months prior to the IPO – and at least 50% of shares to be bought byindependent price-setting investors.
Qualification is also contingent on companies falling within certain industry verticals such ascloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), electric and autonomous vehicles, semiconductors,metaverse, new materials and new energy.
