(Adds rule details, context)
March 24 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX)
said on Friday it had framed new listing rules for specialist
technology companies, adopting a lower revenue threshold for
these firms set out in earlier proposals.
The bourse operator, a unit of Hong Kong Exchanges and
Clearing Ltd , said it would welcome applications
operating in frontier industries, including new energy,
robotics, semiconductors, quantum computing, autonomous driving,
artificial intelligence and new food and agriculture
technologies.
"The new economy sector is rapidly changing the way in which
we live and work, and this new route to market will support some
of the most innovative and progressive companies of the future,"
HKEX CEO Nicolas Aguzin said.
The final rules, which are designed to make it easier for
hard-tech companies to sell shares in the city and effective
from March 31, allow lower thresholds set out in an earlier
proposal.
A commercialised company should have no less than HK$6
billion ($764.38 million) in market capitalisation, according to
the rules, lower than HK$8 billion stipulated in a consultation
last October.
Such a firm should have revenue of at least HK$250 million
for its most recent audited financial year, a sharp decrease
from the current requirement of HK$500 million.
A pre-commercial company's market value should not be less
than HK$10 billion, against previously proposed HK$15 billion.
These rules are designed to retain the attractiveness of
Hong Kong's capital markets amid continued geopolitical
tensions.
The new regime is friendlier and more attractive to
U.S.-listed Chinese firms and seeking to float shares elsewhere
amid political uncertainties, which helps them "mitigate
potential risks associated with scrutiny from a single stock
exchange", China Renaissance Securities (Hong Kong) Chief
Strategist Melody Lai said in a note.
HKEX raised $7.8 billion from IPOs last year, falling to the
sixth largest listing venue globally from the third place in
2021.
($1 = 7.8495 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Poonam Behura in Bangalore and Selena Li in Hong
Kong; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Rashmi Aich)
