Amended Article

Title:

Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation Rules Governing Review of Securities Listings 

Amended Date: 2024.03.11 (Articles 4, 28-1, 40 amended,English version coming soon)
Current English version amended on 2024.01.12 
Categories: Primary Market > Review
2-1     Unless it is a state-owned enterprise, any domestic issuer applying for listing of sharesin accordance with Chapter IIshall first have applied for registration of its stock as emerging stock and have had it traded on the TPEx for not less than 6 months before the TWSE will accept its listing application for processing.
    TheTWSE 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 TPEx, 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 TPEx 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 TPEx 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 TWSE 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 TPEx, 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.
    A domestic issuer or a foreign issuer that initially applies for the listing of stocks on the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) in accordance with Chapter IV “Listing of Securities on the Taiwan Innovation Board” must undergo listing advisory guidance by the lead securities underwriter or apply for registration of its stocks as emerging stocks and have them traded at the TPEx for at least 6 months before the TWSE may accept its application for listing, except where a domestic listed company or a foreign issuer is a subsidiary of a listed company and havemet the conditions listed in the following paragraphs, subject to the approval of the TWSE:
  1. The listed company has had no material defects in its internal control system within the most recent year, for which the TWSE has imposed monetary penalties and a CPA has issued an internal control system audit report with an unqualified conclusion providingreasonable assurance on the supervision and management of an applicant company for the most recent two quarters.
  2. The main securities underwriter has submitted the Material Financial and Business Incidents Checklist to the TWSE in accordance with Article 2 of the TWSE Rules Governing the Reporting of Basic Information of Advisory Client Companies by Securities Underwriters and there are no material irregularities.
    Paragraphs 3 and 4 may apply mutatis mutandis where a foreign issuer initially applies for the listing of stocks at the TIB.
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19     Where, upon application, a subsidiary, other than a government-owned enterprise, applies for the listing of its stock but is unable to meet the requirements set forth in all the subparagraphs below, the TWSE shall disagree to the listing, notwithstanding the fact that its application meets the criteria set forth in these Rules:
  1. A consolidated financial statement of the parent company and all of its subsidiaries which is prepared in accordance with the accounting principles of the home country of its parent company and an audit opinion issued by a CPA in the Republic of China stating the differences between the accounting principles applicable in the Republic of China and the accounting principles applicable in the home country of the parent company and the impact of such differences on such financial statement shall be submitted along with the application, unless the applicant company is applying for listing pursuant to paragraph 2 or 4 of Article 4, or Article 5, Article 6, or Article 6-1, or in the fiscal year of the application for listing and the most recent fiscal year the amount of purchase/sales transactions between it and its parent company is less than 10 percent of its total purchase/sales amount.
  2. According to the consolidated financial statement submitted pursuant to the preceding paragraph, the total amount of net worth shall be NT$1 billion or more in the most recent fiscal year and the profit before tax shall each represent 3 percent or greater of the total amount of net worth in each of the most recent two fiscal years, provided that such shall not apply where such event is the product of business nature, market demand and supply condition, government policy, or any other reasonable cause.
  3. The total number of shares of the applicant company held 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, shall not exceed 70 percent of the total number of its issued shares. If this 70 percent limit is exceeded, the applicant company shall conduct a pre-listing initial public offering to reduce the percentage of shares held by the aforesaid persons to 70 percent or lesser. However, the same does not apply where persons, other than those restricted by this subparagraph with respect to the total amount of shareholdings,hold a total of no less than 300 million shares in the applicant company; or, in the case the share has no par value or the par value per share is not NT$10, where persons, other than those restricted by this subparagraph with respect to the total amount of shareholdings, hold a total of such shareswith a net value of not less than NT$6 billion in the applicant company.
  4. If the stock of the parent company is already traded on the TWSE (or the TPEx), at the time of its application for TWSE listing, the pro forma operating revenue or net 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 with limited assurance provided 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 two fiscal years. However, this need not apply if the parent company and the subsidiary have different business types, industrial classifications, or product types, and moreover are not mutually competitive, or if it resulted from another reasonable cause.
     When a subsidiary applies for TWSE listing pursuant to the proviso of subparagraph 6 of the preceding paragraph, any transfer of shares within the three years prior to the application for TWSE listing for purposes of reducing the parent company's shareholding in the subsidiary shall have been conducted in a manner in which the pre-emptive subscription right is given to the original shareholders of the parent company or another manner not detrimental to the rights and interest of the shareholders of the parent.
    The proviso of the sixth subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall not apply where the parent company of the applicant company is a TWSE- or TPEx-listed investment holding company.
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28-6     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:
  1. 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,unless the applicant company is applying for listing pursuant to Article 28-1, paragraph 2, 5 or 6, or in the fiscal year of the application for listing and the most recent fiscal year the amount of purchase/sales transactions between it and its parent company is less than 10 percent of its total purchase/sales amount.
  2. As calculated based on the consolidated financial statement submitted pursuant to the preceding subparagraph, the profitability shall meet the requirement in Article 28-1, paragraph 1, subparagraph 4, provided that the aforesaid profitability requirement need not apply where such event is the product ofbusiness nature, market demand and supply condition, government policy, or any other reasonable cause.
  3. 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, 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, hold a total of such shareswith a net value of not less than NT$6 billion in the applicant company.
  4. If the stock of the parent company is already traded on the TWSE (or the TPEx), at the time of its application for TWSE listing, the pro forma operating revenue or net 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 with limited assurance provided 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 two fiscal years. However, this need not apply if the parent company and the subsidiary have different business types, industrial classifications, or product types, and moreover are not mutually competitive, or if it resulted from another reasonable cause.
     When a subsidiary applies for TWSE listing pursuant to the proviso of subparagraph 6 of the preceding paragraph, any transfer of shares within the three years prior to the application for TWSE listing for purposes of reducing the parent company's shareholding in the subsidiary shall have been conducted in a manner in which the pre-emptive subscription right is given to the original shareholders of the parent company or another manner not detrimental to the rights and interests of the shareholders of the parent.
    The proviso of the sixth subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall not apply where the parent company of the applicant company is a TWSE- or TPEx-listed investment holding company.
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33     An application for listing of stocks at the TIB by a subsidiary that maintains the parent and subsidiary relationship at the time of the application shall be rejected if it fails to meet the following requirements, despite that it has complied with the applicable provisions of these Rules:
  1. The parents company and all its subsidiaries and their directors, supervisors and representatives, and shareholders holding more than 10 percent of the company’s total shares, and their related parties all together shall not hold more than 80 percent of the total issued shares of the applicant. Where the above shareholding exceeds 70 percent, there should be prelisting public sales of shares to reduce the shareholding to less than 80 percent. However, the same does not apply where persons, other than those restricted by this subparagraph with respect to the total amount of shareholdings, hold a total of no less than 50 million shares; or, in the case the share has no par value or the par value per share is not NT$10, where persons, other than those restricted by this subparagraph with respect to the total amount of shareholdings, hold a total of such shareswith a net value of not less than NT$1 billion in the applicant company.
  2. Where the stocks of its parent company are traded at the TWSE/TPEx centralized securities exchange market, the pro forma operating revenues or operating income shown in the pro forma consolidated financial statements that excludes the applicant’s financial data, with limited assurance provided by a CPA, for the most recent four quarters at the time of the application indicate no decline of over 50 percent compared to the consolidated financial statements for the current term, and no transfer of business of any major client of the parent company has occurred during the most recent two fiscal years. The above, however, may be waived if the parent company and the subsidiaryengage in different types of business, conduct business in different industries or have different types of products and are not competing with each other, or it is due to other reasonable cause.
    Where a subsidiary applies for listing at the TIB in accordance with the proviso of subparagraph 3 of the preceding paragraph, when the parent company transfer shares to reduce its shareholding in the subsidiary during the three years prior to the application for listing, the shares to be transferred should be offered for subscription by existing shareholders on a priority basis or the transfer should be made in a way that will not injure the equity of the shareholders’ of the parent company.
    The proviso of the third subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall not apply where the parent company of the applicant company is a TWSE- or TPEx-listed investment holding company.