Just now, more than 40 companies to be listed have been suspended due to intermediaries being filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, involving 4 IPO companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, 31 IPO companies on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and 9 IPO companies on the Beijing Stock Exchange.
The above-mentioned enterprises "stepped on the thunder" Beijing King & Wood Mallesons Law Firm ("King & Wood Mallesons"), ShineWing Certified Public Accountants (Special General Partnership) ("ShineWing"), and Sino-German Securities Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Zhongde Securities”) and other three institutions, some of these companies that have suspended the review are in the state of inquiry, and some have already submitted registration applications.
Sino-German Securities has been filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and is related to LeTV.
On January 18, Shanxi Securities issued an announcement that the China Securities Regulatory Commission decided to file a case against Zhongde Securities for its sponsorship business in LeTV's 2016 non-public offering of stocks.
According to the market network, King & Wood Mallesons and ShineWing are also related to this.
The Securities Times reporter learned that there have also been cases where IPO companies have been dragged down by intermediaries to suspend the review. According to practice, the sponsor of the issuer has been investigated by the administrative organ for suspected violations of laws and regulations. If the case has not been closed, the sponsor can complete its sponsorship of the issuer. After the review of the work, the application is resumed for review.
There have also been precedents for companies planning to list to replace intermediaries.
More than 40 companies planning to go public have been suspended for review
As of 10:00 p.m. on the 26th, a total of 44 IPO companies had been suspended due to intermediaries being filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The reasons for the suspension of the company’s review were related to the three intermediaries, involving King & Wood Mallesons, ShineWing and Sino-German Securities.
Among them, among the companies whose review was suspended, the companies in the inquiry stage were the most, including Saiwei Times, Maxima, Xinghe, Southeast Electronics, Keyuan Pharmaceutical, etc.
Some companies are in the state of acceptance, including Mingyang Electric, CIMC Huanke, Lianzhong Information, Guangdong Jianke and many other companies.
Some companies have already submitted registration applications, including Yuandao Communication, Huada Jiutian, Fantuo Digital Innovation, Xinjufeng, Xianglou New Materials and many other companies.
Because Jindu Law Firm has participated in many projects, nearly 30 IPO companies have been suspended for review.
The large-scale suspension of censorship this time may be related to LeTV.
On January 18, Shanxi Securities announced that its holding subsidiary Zhongde Securities had received the "Notice of Filing a Case" from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Due to the sponsorship business of Sino-German Securities in LeTV's 2016 non-public offering of shares, the China Securities Regulatory Commission filed an investigation against Sino-German Securities.
The day before the above-mentioned filing announcement was released, Shanxi Securities also issued an announcement saying that Zhongde Securities, a holding subsidiary, received a civil complaint from the Beijing Financial Court, and the cause of the action was a dispute over liability for securities misrepresentation.
Two thousand plaintiffs including Shanghai Junying Asset Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) filed a civil lawsuit against 21 defendants including LeTV Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., requesting LeTV to compensate for the investment losses caused by its misrepresentation. 4.571 billion yuan, requiring the other 20 defendants to bear joint and several liability.
LeTV's 2016 non-public offering of shares constituted a fraudulent offering was officially identified by the "Decision on Administrative Penalty" issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on April 12, 2021.
The Administrative Penalty Letter pointed out that due to the ten years of financial fraud from 2007 to 2016, LeTV’s IPO-related documents submitted and disclosed and its annual reports from 2010 to 2016 contained false records, failed to disclose related transactions as required, and failed to disclose that it was LeTV Holdings The company provided guarantees, and did not truthfully disclose that Jia Moufang and Jia Yueting fulfilled their loan commitments to listed companies. In 2016, the non-public offering of stocks constituted a fraudulent offering and other illegal facts. The CSRC made administrative decisions on 15 responsible entities including LeTV and Jia Yueting. Penalties, including a fine of more than 240 million yuan on LeTV, and a fine of more than 241 million yuan on Jia Yueting.
Sino-German Securities, ShineWing, and King & Wood Mallesons are all intermediaries that provide services for LeTV's 2016 non-public offering.
On January 20, Xinghe shares, which applied for an IPO on the Growth Enterprise Market, was cancelled on the eve of the meeting, and it should have been officially listed on the GEM Review Committee for review on January 21.
At that time, the market speculated that the intermediary agency of Xinghe Co., Ltd. might trigger a regulatory filing.
How long to resume after suspending review
According to Wind data, Sino-German Securities has 4 IPO projects under review, ShineWing has 23 IPO projects under review, King & Wood Mallesons has 35 IPO projects under review under the registration system, and 12 companies plan to list on the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards.
Follow-up or IPO projects will issue announcements of suspension of review.
According to the regulations, for an enterprise under review, if the sponsor of the issuer has been investigated by the administrative organ for suspected violation of laws and regulations, and the case has not been closed, the sponsor may apply for resumption of the review after the sponsor has completed its review of the issuer's sponsorship work.
一般来讲，复核的时间不会太长。此前比亚迪半导体发行律师天元律所因被卷入蓝山科技相关事件中，遭遇证监会立案调查。2021年8月18日，比亚迪半导体中止审核，2021年9月1日，天元律所便出具复核报告，比亚迪半导体恢复审核，中间过了14天。当然也不乏有的IPO项目换中介机构的先例。
同时对于涉事中介机构的新增项目，一般而言，交易所都会拒收材料，一直到立案结束后才会恢复。
注册制改革背景下，对中介机构的从严监管是既定趋势。2019年以来，证监会查处中介机构违法案件80起，涉及24家会计师事务所、8家证券公司、7家资产评估机构、3家律师事务所、1家资信评级机构，涵盖股票发行、年报审计、资产收购、重大资产重组等重点领域。2021年，证监会依法立案调查中介机构违法案件39起，较去年同期增长一倍以上，将2起案件线索移送或通报公安机关。
证监会1月14日表示，一些中介机构及从业人员独立性、专业性缺失，质量控制体系和管理机制不健全，以及缺乏职业怀疑精神、丧失职业底线等突出问题。中介机构归位尽责是提高资本市场信息披露质量的重要环节，是防范证券欺诈造假行为、保护投资者合法权益的重要基础，是深化资本市场改革、促进资本市场高质量发展的必然要求。下一步，证监会将强化日常监管、监督检查和稽查执法的有效联动，坚持“一案双查”，依法严肃追究中介机构及从业人员违法责任，切实提高违法成本，有力督促其发挥资本市场“看门人”作用，有效构建以信息披露为核心的市场运行体系。