The foreign-funded strategy stipulates that the revised focus will be reduced to one year in three years.
The Mainland intends to relax foreign investment restrictions on A-share listed companies. The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China issued the “Decision on Amending the Measures for Foreign Investors to Manage Strategic Investment in Listed Companies (Consultation Draft)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”), and made a number of amendments to the strategic investment regulations for foreign investors, including the relaxation of foreign investment. The lock-up period for shares of listed companies shall not be transferred within 3 years from the previous three years, and shall not be transferred within 12 months, and the Securities Law and the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the stock exchange have other provisions on the restricted period of shares. Follow the rules.
New revisions to lower asset requirements
In addition, the new amendment also relaxed the asset requirements for foreign strategic investors, stipulating that the total assets of foreign investors should not be less than US$50 million (approximately HK$390 million), or the total assets under management should be no less than US$300 million. . The original provision is that the total amount of foreign assets of the investor is not less than US$100 million, or the total amount of overseas real assets under management is not less than US$500 million.
In the new revision, the Ministry of Commerce plans to introduce arrangements to allow foreign investment to make strategic investments in equity payments from overseas companies. The new clause mentions that a foreign investor may use the equity of an overseas company held by a foreign investor or a foreign investor to use its additional shares as a means of payment for a strategic investment listed company, but it should meet the corresponding conditions, including the legal establishment of an overseas company, the company and The management has not been severely punished by the regulatory authorities in the past three years, and investors have to legally hold shares in overseas companies and are transferable according to law.
The Shanghai-Shenzhen port-to-port mechanism is not applicable
On the other hand, the handling of foreign share holdings has also introduced greater flexibility. The original requirement for foreign shares to be reduced to less than 10% and 25%, listed companies must apply for change registration with the industrial and commercial administration, and the company’s business type will also Therefore, the new revision is changed to: when the foreign investor’s reduction leads to the fact that the total share capital of the listed company no longer contains foreign shares, the listed company needs to apply to the department for cancellation of the foreign-invested enterprise approval certificate.
As for the application approval process, the application process has been simplified. After the new amendment is passed, the listed company can submit the application directly to the provincial competent commercial authority. The department will report it to the Ministry of Commerce for approval within 15 working days. For overseas subsidiaries to make strategic investments, in addition to submitting the documents required for the application, investors must also submit to the Ministry of Commerce the joint responsibility of the parent company for investment activities and irrevocable letter of commitment.
The new amendments are aimed at foreign investors making strategic investments in A-share listed companies. Foreign investors do not apply this “Measures” if they invest in listed companies through stock exchange interconnection mechanisms such as “Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect” and “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect”. Foreign investors who make initial public offerings through the foreign-invested joint-stock companies they invest in and acquire A-shares by way of listing do not apply to the Measures.