HKEX to launch Third Board consultation in two weeks
Charles Li, chief executive, said the new board would cover companies that are pre-profit, even pre-revenue, such as biotechnology firms with just ‘one discovery or one patent’
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) will launch the consultation for a third board that caters to start-ups and technology firms that do not qualify for listings on the main board and the Growth Enterprise Market as early as in two weeks’ time , said its Charles Li, chief executive on Friday.
Li said the new so called “Third Board” would cover companies that are pre-profit and even pre-revenue, such as some biotechnology companies that had just “one discovery or one patent”.
He used the analogy of mountain climbers striving to reach the peak to describe start-up entrepreneurs.
“How can Hong Kong help people on that path to Mount Everest? Hong Kong needs to do something, because it is a long, hard, lonely road,” he said.
“This will be the first time in Hong Kong that we will openly launch a board specially on that mountain road. Unless we do that, we will never be a city that conquer the peak of the world,” he added.
Li was speaking in The Hong Kong Science Park where HKEX has teamed up with the HK Science and Technology Parks Corporation to launch “The Road to IPO” platform, which is designed to help start-ups and technology firms in areas such as strategy development and financial management, to reach their IPO objective.
Fanny Law, chairman of the Science Park, said a new framework for regulating investment in the new economy was needed urgently.
“I encourage innovators, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists and anyone who cares about creating a vibrant innovation ecosystem in Hong Kong,” Law said, “to air your views clearly and loudly, so that your voice is not drowned by the more conservative forces in the community.”
