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[email protected]India proposes
easier cross-
border listings
A committee appointed by the SECURITIES AND
EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA has recommended
changes to restrictions on cross-border
listings, in order to improve Indian
companies’ access to capital.
4HEûPROPOSALSûINCLUDEûALLOWINGûUNLISTEDû
Indian companies to list on a dozen
foreign stock exchanges without listingLOCALLYûlRSTû4HEûCOMMITTEEûALSOûPROPOSEDû
letting foreign-domiciled companies list
directly on India’s main stock exchanges,
AûMOVEûWHICHûCOULDûBENElTûMANYû)NDIANû
technology and internet companies that are
currently domiciled overseas and, as such,
not able to list in India.
4HEûPROPOSEDûCHANGESûMIRRORûRECENTû
efforts by Chinese securities regulators to
open up the country’s stock markets and
convince more technology issuers to sell
shares in their home market.#URRENTLY û)NDIANûlRMSûCANûLISTûABROADû
only by selling American depositary
receipts or global depositary receipts.
Unlike frequent China-to-US listings, sales
of ADRs by Indian companies are quite
RAREû4HEûLASTûMAJORûONEûWASû($&#û"ANKSû
US$1.8bn issue in August this year.
Under the proposals, Indian companies
could list directly on the Nasdaq, the New
York Stock Exchange, the Korea Exchange,
Euronext Paris, SIX Swiss Exchange and the
stock exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen,
4OKYO û/SAKA û,ONDON û(ONGû+ONG û
&RANKFURTûANDû4ORONTO
4HESEûEXCHANGESûWEREûSELECTEDûBECAUSEû
they are based in countries with treaty
obligations to cooperate in the event of
an investigation in India against a listed
company.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, some
Indian companies listed overseas through
GDRs and ADRs. However, most companies
found this route unattractive because of
the high cost of compliance and the ease of
accessing the domestic capital markets.
Meanwhile, under the proposals, foreign
companies planning to list in India should
sell at least 10% of their share capital to a
minimum of 200 investors to raise at least
Rs10bn (US$142m).
4HEûAUTHORISEDûVENUESûWOULDûBEûTHEû
National Stock Exchange, the BSE, the
Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India and
any stock exchange that starts operating in
THEû')&4û#ITYûBUSINESSûDISTRICTûINû'UJARAT
Currently, foreign companies can list
on an Indian stock exchange only by
selling Indian depositary receipts. Standard
Chartered is the only entity to have done
SO ûmOATINGû)$2SûINû
Feedback on the committee’s
recommendations can be made through to
December 24.
S ANURADHAPlease contact us if you have information about job moves: [email protected]
previously told IFR that the changes were
designed to improve coordination between
UBS and the JV, while the bank was looking
to grow its headcount onshore.
Meanwhile, HSBC, which is the only
foreign bank that currently holds a 51%
stake in its JV start-up, having invested
UNDERûAûSPECIlCûTRADEûDEALûBETWEENû#HINA û
Hong Kong and Macau, said last week it
planned to quadruple its research coverage
onshore.
4HEûRENEWEDûPUSHûCOMESûAFTERûYEARSûOFû
poor showing among international banks,
which have struggled to gain much of a
foothold in the domestic securities industry
due to previous onerous regulations and
growing local competition.
Figures released by the Securities
Association of China in May show that
COMBINEDûNETûPROlTSûOFûTHEûSIXûOPERATIONALû
Sino-foreign JVs stood at just Rmb370.12m
(US$53.81m), a decline of around a third
year on year.
4HEûAVERAGEûTOTALûASSETSûOFûTHEûTOPû
EIGHTûDOMESTICûSECURITIESûlRMSûSTOODû
at Rmb380bn, 146 times greater than
the Rmb2.6bn average of the eight JVs,
according to Quinlan & Associates.
Most observers reckon that even
following the relaxation of regulations,
foreign banks will struggle to compete
HEAD
TO
HEADûWITHûTHEûLOCALûlRMS
h)ûDONTûTHINKûTHATûTHEûCHANGEûINûRULESû
WILLûSUDDENLYûLEVELûTHEûPLAYINGûlELDû
BETWEENûFOREIGNûBANKSûANDûLOCALûlRMSûASû
international banks have been effectively
marginalised for some time,” said Quinlan.
h)FûYOUREûLOOKINGûATûTHEûBROKERûSPACE û
most of the wallet available to foreign
banks will come from foreign asset
managers moving onshore, which is
something that is also at a nascent stage at
the moment.”
THOMAS BLOTT
Etienne Le Roux
has joined WESTPAC
BANKING CORPORATION’s
acquisition finance
team in Sydney.
He started as a
director in the team in
October.
Le Roux reports to
Aziz Dean, head
of loan markets at
Westpac.
Le Roux previously
worked as a directorof acquisition finance
and sponsor coverage
at Rabobank in
Sydney for around
four years. Before
that, he was based
in London, where he
worked for the Dutch
lender for six years. CITIGROUP has
named Jan Metzger
as Asia Pacific head
of banking, capital
markets and advisory,
effective January 1.
His appointment
comes after the bank
said in September
it would merge
its corporate and
investment bank
with its capital
markets originationdivision in a global
restructuring.
Metzger was the
surprise pick earlier
this year to succeed
Mark Slaughter as
head of the corporate
and investment bank
in Asia following
Slaughter’s relocation
to the US.
Metzger joined
Citigroup in
November 2015.The proposed changes mirror
recent efforts by Chinese
securities regulators to open
up the country’s stock markets
and convince more technology
issuers to sell shares in their
home market.