Source:
https://scmp.com/article/163530/sponsor-rule-h-shares-retained

Sponsor rule for H shares retained

The Hong Kong stock exchange has maintained its three-year sponsorship requirement for Chinese enterprises seeking a listing in the territory.

The exchange recently reviewed the listing rules which require a sponsor for a Chinese issuer for at least three years. However, the rules still make no provision regarding sponsorship after the three-year period.

The exchange said it was up to the H-share companies to decide whether they wanted to retain the relationship with the sponsor after three years. This would depend on their own circumstances.

The exchange said that 'any change in the sponsorship arrangement, including its termination after the initial three-year period, should immediately be brought to the exchange's attention by both the issuer and the sponsor'.

Tsingtao Brewery was the first Chinese enterprise to list in Hong Kong, in July 1994, and the company, theoretically, will be the first to terminate its sponsorship arrangement.

Sponsorship was introduced in a bid to assist the mainland enterprises to comply with Hong Kong's listing requirements and other operational rules.