Opinion | Investors fail to read prospectuses
Regulators are trying to improve corporate transparency. But do small shareholders care?
The regulators have worked hard to improve corporate disclosure standards but it is a question whether small investors really care.
White Collar attended the shareholders' meetings of two problematic companies last week and talked to a number of retail investors about how closely they read prospectuses. At one of the meetings, more than 100 shareholders gathered to approve fabric maker Hontex International's proposal to repay HK$1.03 billion it raised in its 2009 initial public offering. This came after the Securities and Futures Commission ordered Hontex in March 2010 to be suspended from trading after alleging its listing prospectus had overstated its profit and turnover figures.
White Collar found that few cared about what was published in the prospectus.
"I never read any prospectuses; there are several hundred pages. I do not know if a particular number is inaccurate," one investor said.
Another said he also did not read it, saying that he did his own research rather than simply rely on brokers' tips.
He said he agreed with SFC moves to improve disclosure as analysts relied on prospectuses to make recommendations to investors. "Although I do not read the big book (prospectus) myself, the analysts need to rely on the figures in it. Overall, I think the SFC is doing the right thing," the investor said.