Four key points of the opening of the board at the end of the selected layer to see the reform of the new three boards
The new three board selection layer, which has received much market attention, is finally coming. Up to now, the number of selected tier enterprises approved by the CSRC has reached 32, and the market is expected to be listed at the end of July.
If the non-listed joint-stock company of Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park entered the agency share system in 2006 to conduct the transfer pilot, the term “new three boards” has existed for 14 years.
Throughout the development history of the New Third Board, every key node moving forward is marked by major reforms. In 2013, the market nature and positioning of the national share transfer system were clarified, the scope of services was expanded, a tiered system was introduced, and the trading system and information disclosure system were reformed. Since the comprehensive deepening of reforms launched in 2019, public issuance and the establishment of a selection layer have enabled the opening of high-quality enterprise listing channels and the realization of multi-level capital market interconnection.
The new layer and the new era of the selective layer + transfer board system are here
The selection layer of the new third board is running, and the new one has begun.
For the New Third Board, the layered system is the highlight of reform. On October 25, 2019, the China Securities Regulatory Commission launched a comprehensive deepening of the reform of the New Third Board. The key measures include the establishment of a selection layer, the optimization of the issuance and financing system, and the establishment of a listed company transfer mechanism. From November 2019 to the beginning of the year, various reform policies and business rules were gradually released, and the selection criteria for the selection layer and the public issuance mechanism were clearly defined.
What is a selection layer? After the establishment of the selection layer, the new three board market will form a three-tier market structure of "basic layer-innovation layer-selection layer" to accurately meet the differentiated needs of enterprises of different types and different development stages.
Previously, the New Third Board has maintained a relatively cautious attitude towards the qualification criteria for qualified investors, and has established a hard access indicator of 5 million yuan in assets. This has protected ordinary investors, and on the other hand, it has also restricted the liquidity of the New Third Board. A big obstacle. After the reform, the selection layer requires individual investors' securities assets to be no less than 1 million yuan, the innovation layer requires no less than 1.5 million yuan, and the basic layer requires no less than 2 million yuan, which greatly reduces the threshold.
In addition, the transfer board listing mechanism is considered to be a major highlight of this reform, and companies can transfer to the Science and Technology Board and the GEM after the listing layer has been listed for one year. This means that companies can first make public offerings at the select level. After a year of listing growth, they can apply for a transfer board after meeting the standards. The time to market is greatly shortened, opening up the company's growing market channel and giving companies more choices.
"For enterprises, the transfer board listing mechanism can shorten the time for new third board companies to land on A shares. Those high-quality companies with good financial status or strong innovation ability, high market recognition, and high publicization level can find according to their own circumstances. The capital market that conforms to its own positioning has different levels of capital market assistance as the company grows. For the market, the transfer board listing mechanism helps to fully play the role of the new third board. "Peng Hai said.
Today, the select layer runs out of acceleration. As of July 15th, the number of selected companies has reached 70, and 32 companies have passed the approval and entered the issuance stage. In addition, nearly 200 listed companies announced plans to hit the select layer.
From "old third board" to "new third board"
The New Third Board is a common name in the market, with different references and different connotations at different stages.
The difference from the new third board is the "old third board". In 2001, in order to solve the problem of transfer of tradable shares of the former STAQ, NET and delisting companies, the State Council approved the establishment of a stock transfer agency system for securities companies, which was specifically managed by the China Securities Association and was commonly known as the "old third board" in the market.
In order to support the development of Zhongguancun high-tech enterprises, in 2006, with the approval of the State Council, the CSRC allowed qualified non-listed joint-stock companies in Beijing Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park to enter the agency share transfer system for share quotation transfer pilots. In order to distinguish it from the "old three boards", the market has commonly referred to the Zhongguancun pilot as the "new three boards". Two Zhongguancun enterprises were listed in the first batch of transfers, and later increased to more than 100 enterprises.
In July 2012, the State Council approved the establishment of a national share transfer system and incorporated Shanghai Zhangjiang, Wuhan East Lake, and Tianjin Binhai High-tech Zone on the basis of the Beijing Zhongguancun pilot.
On January 16, 2013, the nationwide SME share transfer system held an unveiling ceremony, and the first batch of business rules were released on February 8. The business rules of the original share transfer system were abolished, and the original "new third board" listed company became a national share transfer system listed company after performing the necessary procedures in accordance with the new business rules. The national stock transfer system is set up to undertake the original "old third board" company.
On June 19, 2013, the 13th executive meeting of the State Council decided to expand the national share transfer system pilot to the whole country.
On December 13, 2013, the "Decision of the State Council on Several Issues Concerning the National SME Share Transfer System" was issued, which clarified that the national stock transfer system is a national securities trading venue established under the Securities Law. Through the application of sponsoring brokers to list on the national stock transfer system, public transfer of shares, equity financing, debt financing, asset restructuring, etc.", and expand the pilot scope to the whole country. On December 31 of that year, the National Stock Transfer Company began to apply for listing of companies across the country, and the New Third Board ended the small-scale, regional pilot in the national high-tech park and entered the country.
At this time, the new third board has become a well-known new third board. Both the Zhongguancun pilot and the national stock transfer system are commonly known as the "new three boards", but there is a substantial difference between the two. The agent share transfer system is only an over-the-counter business of a securities company, not an approved securities trading place, and there is no legal positioning regarding the nature of the market. The National Stock Transfer System is a national securities trading venue established with the approval of the State Council. It is a centralized market, an open market, and an in-market market.
The New Third Board continues to explore and innovate
The pace of reform has never stopped.
After full capacity expansion, the number of companies listed on the New Third Board has grown rapidly, surpassing 1,000 in the first year, 5,000 in the following year, and 10,000 in the third year. Faced with the differentiated needs and diversified characteristics of 10,000 enterprises, the New Third Board has started to explore differentiated supervision and services based on market stratification.
From June 27, 2016, the National Equity Transfer Corporation formally implemented hierarchical management of listed companies on the New Third Board, divided the listed companies into a basic layer and an innovation layer, and implemented a differentiated stock transfer and information disclosure system. Around the profitability, revenue, market value and other indicators, the innovation layer has set three sets of access standards. Of the total of 7639 listed companies at the time, 953 were finally selected for the innovation layer.
After one and a half years of operation, on December 22, 2017, the National Equity Transfer Corporation reformed the tiered system again, adjusting the entry and maintenance standards of the innovation layer to promote the accumulation of more high-quality enterprises to the innovation layer, and The system of transactions, directional issuance, mergers and acquisitions, and information disclosure has been continuously optimized.
However, with the rapid growth of the market size and the growth of listed companies, the market structure is gradually changing and the market demand is becoming more diversified. The New Third Board has emerged new problems and new situations such as inactive market transactions, weak financing functions, and the increase of active delisting companies. There is an urgent need to improve market function. The call for a new round of reform is gradually taking place.
The selection layer is coming to look forward to activating the market
Although the selection layer has not yet started, the living water brought about by the reform has begun to stimulate the market.
Chen Li, chief economist of Soochow Securities, told the Beijing News reporter that for the New Third Board, the biggest significance of the selection layer is to activate the market. The NEEQ market has been inactive for quite a long time, and it is difficult for the market without liquidity to survive. After the selection layer is established, it is very important for corporate financing and for the trading of the New Third Board itself. For the overall capital market, the establishment of a selective layer is a construction channel to improve the multi-level capital market. Originally, all parties hoped to have both a main board, as well as a GEM board, a science and technology board, and a new three board. With the selection layer, interconnected channels have been established. The selection layer is a necessary link in the multi-level capital market .
The data shows that in the first half of this year, all 10 indexes of the new third board market rose, among which 3 real-time indexes such as the third board index, the third board market making, and the innovation index rose 8.14%, 21.91%, and 25.00%, respectively. The third board market making index also recovered from the level of 700 points before the reform to more than 1,000 points. In the first half of the year, the average daily turnover in the market increased by 23.21%; the average daily turnover in the first half of the year was 12,900, an increase of 102.98%.
The number of delisting companies began to decrease. In the first half of this year, the number of active delisting companies fell by 37.91% month-on-month; 27 companies canceled delisting plans, of which 3 companies had net profits of more than 30 million yuan, and high-quality companies were willing to maintain listings.
More investors were attracted to enter the market. At the end of June this year, the number of qualified investors on the New Third Board reached 1.3 million, an increase of nearly one million from the end of 2019. Investors are also very active in the public offering of select-tier companies. Subscription multiples of more than 500 times are not uncommon.
As of July 20, all the 32 approved companies are about to be released, and the selection layer will also be on stage.
The Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Gu Zhijuan