New regulation allows equity financing of STAR-listed firms

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's top securities watchdog, released a regulation that allows STAR-listed firms to issue securities on Friday to facilitate the financing of high-quality technology public firms.

Taking effect on Friday, the regulation allows qualified listed firms on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange to issue stocks - both public offerings and private placements - convertible bonds, depository receipts and other types of securities. The funds raised should be used in technological innovation, the regulation said.

The Shanghai exchange will complete review of issuance applications within two months, while the CSRC will complete securities registration within 15 working days, streamlining related administrative procedures to the maximum, per the regulation.

Moreover, for small-amount financing, it will take the applicant firms no more than eight working days to receive the CSRC decision of whether to register the securities, after submitting the applications to the exchange.

The regulation has stipulated stricter information disclosure requirements of offering applications from the STAR-listed firms than those on other boards of China's A-share market, and tightened supervision over related illegal behaviors.

The regulation came in as the STAR Market will soon welcome its first anniversary of market debut on July 22, and by then the submarket will have its first index: the SSE STAR Market 50 Index, or STAR 50 for short. More institutional improvements are on the horizon for the STAR board.