Q4 Suspension of listing on the stock exchange
MR CHAN CHUN:-YING (in Cantonese):
Deputy President, the IPO of Ant Group had huge impact on public investors as it attracted 1.55 million people to apply for subscription. Secretary, in future, if a company wishes to reactivate its listing application after the suspension of listing, will HKEX, apart from vetting the application in accordance with the normal procedure and requesting the applicant and its sponsors to provide supplementary information on the major risk factors relating to the previous listing suspension and the easing of such risks in its prospectus as stated in the main reply, consider requiring the applicant and its sponsors to disclose or explain to the public some additional information, e.g. publishing on newspapers an announcement about the company’s latest position, so that public investors can learn about the changes in risk before deciding whether they will subscribe for its shares again?
SECRETARY FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES AND THE TREASURY (in Cantonese):
Deputy President, in the case of Ant Group, if the company later decides to reactivate its listing application, we will follow the existing mechanism in processing the application. Under the existing mechanism, if the listing applicant makes changes in its total fundraising amount or other aspects after the publication of listing documents, the Listing Committee will require the applicant to account for the changes in its total fundraising amount and the use of funds, as well as other changes mentioned above. If Ant Group takes the next step to proceed with its listing, we do not think there will be any material risks as the existing mechanism has all along been effective.