Shanghai hosts a China-Australia capital markets meeting
On 25 June 2015 Emlyn Scott, chief executive of the National Stock Exchange of Australia, the country's second largest exchange, led a delegation to a professional-level meeting on capital markets in Shanghai, attended by nearly thirty investment and fund companies from Shanghai, Jiangsu and elsewhere. The Australian side set out the state of its market and welcomed Chinese companies to list there. Mr Scott said NSX, with low listing costs, fast approval and transparent procedures, is an ideal platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, and that his visit was also to research setting up its Greater China headquarters, most probably in Shanghai. Minton Law Firm hosted the meeting.
— The Greater China headquarters of the National Stock Exchange of Australia may be established in Shanghai
Mr Emlyn Scott, chief executive of the National Stock Exchange of Australia, the country's second largest stock exchange, led a delegation from the Australian capital markets to a professional-level meeting in the capital field in Shanghai on 25 June 2015.
The meeting was a professional-level exchange on the Chinese and Australian capital markets, attended by nearly thirty investment companies and fund companies from Shanghai, Jiangsu and elsewhere. The Australian representatives explained in detail the present state and development goals of Australia's capital markets and welcomed Chinese enterprises to list and raise funds in Australia, or to develop or invest in Australia's competitive industries, and those present held in-depth professional discussion of the technical questions arising when Chinese enterprises list in Australia.
In recent years not only large State-owned enterprises have entered the Australian investment market; small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises and even individual investors have taken a keen interest in it. In practice the number of enterprises listing in Australia has risen year by year, and by the first half of 2014 several dozen Chinese enterprises were listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Measured by total capital, the Australian securities market is the eighth largest capital market in the world, with more than 2,200 listed companies.
Mr Scott told this newspaper that the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX), as the country's second largest stock exchange, has a long history and is marked by low listing costs, fast approval and standardised, transparent procedures; NSX provides listed companies with incubation and mentoring services to help them grow quickly, and is an ideal platform for the international strategy of small and medium-sized enterprises. NSX warmly welcomes Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises to list, raise funds and develop in Australia. At the same time, as QDII is taken further and the China-Australia free trade agreement is signed, NSX hopes to become a platform for capital exchange between the two countries, helping Chinese enterprises to list and raise funds in Australia and at the same time helping Chinese investors to invest in Australian listed projects, so as to promote economic interchange and development on both sides. As a key step in substantively advancing exchange between the two capital markets, another purpose of Mr Scott's visit was preliminary research for establishing NSX's China headquarters. Hong Kong, China, Shenzhen and other places are at present candidates for the Greater China headquarters, but Shanghai is very likely to win in the end.
Shanghai Minton Law Firm hosted the meeting, and through its introduction and efforts the Shanghai Equity Exchange successfully signed the Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation with the National Stock Exchange of Australia early this year.
Shen Mo, director of Shanghai Minton Law Firm, told this newspaper's reporter that the seminar was a further practical step after the memorandum between the Shanghai Equity Exchange and NSX, intended to strengthen still further the interaction and connection between the two capital markets and to lay a solid foundation for Chinese enterprises listing in Australia. Shanghai Minton Law Firm is also actively assisting the departments concerned in the preparatory work, in an effort to have NSX's China headquarters placed in Shanghai.
The National Stock Exchange of Australia is the second largest stock exchange in Australia. It was founded before 1937 as the Newcastle Stock Exchange of Australia and was reorganised as the National Stock Exchange of Australia in 2000. NSX signed the Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation with the Shanghai Equity Exchange early in 2015.
Shanghai Minton Law Firm, formerly the Shanghai office of the Australian firm Fox Tucker, has long specialised in taking Chinese enterprises to list in Australia and is a full-service firm handling foreign-related matters.