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Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation Rules Governing Review of Securities Listings(2014.06.11) |
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Article 2-1
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Unless it is a state-owned enterprise, any issuer applying for listing of domestic securities shall first have applied for registration of its stock as emerging stock and have had it traded on the GTSM for not less than 6 months, and have completed relevant procedures for dematerialized registration of the issued securities, before the TWSE will accept its listing application for processing.
The TWSE will accept for processing an initial application by a foreign issuer for a first-time listing of stock issued by the foreign issuer that is not listed on any overseas securities exchange or securities market ("a TWSE primary listing") only after that foreign issuer has first been under listing advisory guidance by the lead securities underwriter, or has applied for registration of its stock as emerging stock and had it traded on the GTSM, for not less than 6 months. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if there is any change of the lead securities underwriter during the period of listing advisory guidance, the period shall start to run again for a full 6 months, beginning with the date on which the new lead securities underwriter files for the listing advisory guidance.
A foreign issuer whose stock or depositary receipts already are or have been listed on any major overseas securities exchange or securities market and that is applying for a TWSE primary listing of its issued stock, or a GTSM primary listed company applying for a TWSE primary listing of its issued stock, may be exempted from the requirement in paragraph 2 that the foreign issuer shall first undergo listing advisory guidance by the lead securities underwriter or apply for registration of its stock as emerging stock and have it traded on the GTSM for not less than 6 months; provided that this paragraph shall not apply if the foreign issuer has been delisted from a major overseas securities exchange or securities market for over 6 months.
A foreign issuer that has passed the review of stock or depositary receipt listing at any major overseas securities exchange or securities market and that, within the period of validity following the passing of such review, applies for a TWSE primary listing of its issued stock may apply on a case-by-case basis to the TAIFEX to reduce the time period specified in paragraph 2 for which the foreign issuer must first undergo listing advisory guidance by the lead securities underwriter or apply for registration of its stock as emerging stock and have it traded on the GTSM, provided that the time period may be not less than 2 months, and the lead securities underwriter or the lead recommending securities firm may not be changed within such period.
When a foreign issuer applies to list its issued shares or depositary receipts, the shares or depositary receipts specified in the listing application shall be issued in uncertificated (dematerialized) form and registered with the central securities depository. This requirement does not apply, however, if the laws or regulations of its country of registration contain a provision to the contrary.
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Article 28-3
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The standard basis for the paid-in capital of Article 28-1, paragraph 1, subparagraph 3, item 1 is the amount of paid-in capital recorded in the evidentiary documents of the foreign issuer's registration or amendment registration translated into New Taiwan Dollars based on the average of the daily foreign exchange rates at market close, as announced by the designated foreign exchange bank in the Republic of China, for the 1-month period before the foreign issuer applied for listing.
The standard basis for the "net worth" and "net income before tax" specified by Articles 28-1, 28-6, and 28-13 shall be the CPA audited and attested consolidated financial report, and shall refer to the amount attributable to owners of the parent.
The financial report referred to in Article 28-1 and Article 28-13 shall be prepared in accordance with the applicable regulations governing the preparation of financial reports adopted by the competent authority for the relevant industry, the generally accepted accounting principles of the United States, or the International Financial Reporting Standards, with an audit report issued by two ROC-licensed CPAs of a joint accounting firm approved by the Competent Authority to attest to the financial reports of public companies, or audited by an international CPA firm that has a cooperative relationship with the aforementioned accounting firm accompanied by an audit report issued by an ROC-licensed CPA.
A consolidated financial report of the preceding paragraph that is not prepared in accordance with the applicable regulations governing the preparation of financial reports adopted by the competent authority for the relevant industry shall disclose any items with material discrepancies and the amount of any monetary impact of those discrepancies, and provide an opinion by an ROC-licensed CPA regarding those items.
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Article 28-6
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If a foreign issuer that is a subsidiary of a parent company applies for TWSE primary listing of its stock, and complies with the provisions of this Chapter but cannot meet all of the following requirements, the TWSE shall not approve its stock listing:
- It shall submit the consolidated financial statement of the parent company and all of its subsidiaries. If that statement is not prepared in accordance with the applicable regulations governing the preparation of financial reports adopted by the competent authority for the relevant industry, the foreign issuer shall disclose any items with material discrepancies and the amount of any monetary impact of those discrepancies, and an opinion expressed by an ROC-licensed CPA regarding those items.
- As calculated based on the consolidated financial statement submitted pursuant to the preceding subparagraph, total net worth in the most recent fiscal year shall be NT$1 billion or higher, and the net income before tax in each of the most recent 2 fiscal years shall be 3 percent or more of the total net worth, provided that the aforesaid profitability percentages need not apply if the amount of purchases/sales transactions between the foreign issuer and its parent company in the fiscal year in which it applies for listing and the most recent fiscal year do not constitute 10 percent of the foreign issuer's total purchases/sales.
- The total holdings of its shares by the parent company and all of its subsidiaries, and by those companies' directors, supervisors, representatives, and greater than 10 percent shareholders, and by related parties thereof, may not be more than 70 percent of the total number of its shares. If those total holdings exceed 70 percent, the foreign issuer shall reduce that percentage to 70 or lower when it conducts the pre-listing public sale of its shares. The same does not apply, however, if the applicant company meets the following criteria:
- Where it has an audit committee, or has independent directors constituting more than one half of the total number of directors.
- Where one or more persons, other than those subject to the shareholding restriction in terms of the total number of shares as set out in this subparagraph, hold 300 million shares or more. In the case of a foreign issuer whose shares have no par value or a par value other than NT$10, the same shall apply where one or more persons, other than those subject to the shareholding restriction in terms of the total number of shares as set out in this subparagraph, have the equivalent of NT$6 billion or more in the net worth.
- It shall have at least three independent directors.
- In the fiscal year in which it applies for listing and the most recent fiscal year, it does not derive more than 50 percent of its operating revenue, or more than 70 percent of its principal raw materials, principal products, or the amount of its total purchases, from the parent company, provided that these restrictions shall not apply if due to special industry characteristics, conditions of supply and demand in the market, or another legitimate reason.
- If the stock of the parent company is already traded on the TWSE (or the GTSM), at the time of its application for TWSE listing, the pro forma operating revenue or operating income as stated in the pro forma consolidated financial statements for each of the most recent 4 quarters, excluding the financial data for the applicant company, and reviewed by a CPA, was not down by 50 percent or more from the operating revenue or operating income stated in the consolidated financial statements for the same period, and the parent company has not transferred any material customers or business within the most recent 2 fiscal years.
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Article 28-9
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The TWSE will approve the application for primary listing of a foreign issuer's stock only after the following persons place in centralized custody in a central securities depository established with the approval of the Competent Authority the stocks comprising their respective individual shareholdings in full as recorded in the listing application documentation and whose sum total is not lower than the percentage specified by the TWSE minus the number of shares provided for public sale upon listing, provided that if the number of shares submitted is insufficient to meet the required percentage, the foreign issuer shall coordinate other shareholders to make up the shortfall.
- If the foreign issuer applies for TWSE primary listing pursuant to Article 28-1, paragraph 1, its directors, supervisors, and shareholders holding more than 10 percent of the total number of shares.
- If the foreign issuer applies for TWSE primary listing pursuant to Article 28-1, paragraph 2, its directors, supervisors, shareholders holding more than 5 percent of the total number of shares, and shareholders providing patent rights or technical know-how as capital contribution and holding a position in the company and also holding 0.5 percent or more, or at least 100,000 shares, of the total issued shares of the company at the time of the listing application, provided that this requirement shall not apply to a recommending securities firm holds 5 percent or more of the issuer's total issued shares as a result of subscription or trading, during the emerging stock registration period, of securities held for operations.
The provisions of Article 10, paragraphs 2, 3, 4, and 6 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the allocation percentage, centralized custody period, withdrawal method, disposal of stocks in centralized custody, and the effect of custody.
A GTSM primary listed company applying for TWSE primary listing shall carry out centralized custody of stocks by mutatis mutandis application of Article 10-2.
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Article 28-10
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A foreign issuer applying for TWSE primary listing of its stock shall first allocate at least 10 percent of the total number of shares that are to be listed to a cash capital increase through a new share issue after deducting the number of shares retained for employee purchases as provided in the articles of incorporation, then engage a securities underwriter to conduct a pre-listing public sale of those shares under mutatis mutandis application of the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Act, Article 71, paragraph 1 regarding securities underwriting on a firm commitment basis, provided that where this would require the allocation of 20 million shares or more for underwriting, the company may allocate a minimum of 20 million shares for public sale.
The total number of shares retained for employee purchase referred in the preceding paragraph may not exceed 15 percent of the total number of new shares issued.
The requirements of paragraph 1 regarding a percentage of shares to be allocated shall not apply to a GTSM primary listed company that is applying for TWSE primary listing if the company, because of non-compliance with the share ownership dispersion standards in Article 28-1, paragraph 1, subparagraph 5 of these Rules, must retain a securities underwriter to conduct a pre-listing public sale of shares to deal with the amount of the shortfall in share ownership dispersion.
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