US UNICORN FOUNDATION
Pioneering The Path to Public
Constraints of A-share Mainboard Listing and Hong Kong Stock Listing
A-share Mainboard
Extremely lengthy review process
Approval System IPO has an average waiting period from acceptance to listing of 574 days (approximately 19 months).
High Listing Thresholds
The requirements for corporate listing outlined in the Corporate Law, especially those related to share capital, are often challenging for many small and medium-sized enterprises to meet.
Listing expenses are high
Based on statistics for already listed companies, the average initial listing expenses in China are around 15 million RMB, which is comparable to the costs of listing on overseas capital markets such as Hong Kong and the United States.
Hong Kong Stock
Small Capital Scale
The total market capitalization is approximately 1/30th of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and 1/4th of the NASDAQ.
Low Price-to-Earnings Ratio - Limited Fundraising
The Hong Kong stock market has a low P/E ratio of only 13, whereas the NYSE can reach over 30, and NASDAQ can exceed 20.
Low Stock Turnover - Difficult Share Exit
The stock turnover rate in the Hong Kong stock market is low, at only 55%, while NASDAQ has a high turnover rate of up to 300%, and the NYSE has a turnover rate of 70%.
Financial Indicators of the NASDAQ Capital Market
Capital Market
Meeting any one of three conditions satisfies listing requirements (unit: million)
Requirement
Equity Standard
Market Value of Listed Securities Standard [1]
Net Income Standard
Shareholders' Equity
$5 million
$4 million
$4 million
Market Value of Unrestricted Publicly Held Shares [2]
$15 million
$15 million
$5 million
Operating History
2 years
-
-
Market Value of Listed Securities
-
$50 million
-
Net Income from Continuing Operations (in the latest fiscal year or in two of the last three fiscal years)
-
-
$750,000
Unrestricted Public Holding of Shares
$1 million
$1 million
$1 million
Unrestricted Round Lot Shareholders [3]
300
300
300
Market Maker
3
3
3
Bid/Close Price [4]
$4/$3
$4/$2
$4/$3
[1] Currently traded companies qualifying solely under the Market Value Standard must meet the $50 million market value of listedsecurities and the applicable bid price requirement for 90 consecutive trading days before applying.
[2] Effective April 11, 2025, companies listing in conjunction with an initial public offering must meet this requirement solely with the offering proceeds.
[3] Securities subject to resale restrictions for any reason are excluded from the calculation of publicly held shares, market value of publicly held shares and round lot shareholders. In addition, except for SPACs listing under IM-5101-2, at least half of the minimum required number of round lot holders must each hold unrestricted securities with a minimum value of $2,500.
[4] To qualify under the closing price alternative, a company must have (i) average annual revenues of $6 million for three years, (ii)net tangible assets of $5 million or (iii) net tangible assets of $2 million and a 3-year operating history, in addition to satisfying the otherfinancial and liquidity requirements listed above.