港交所：错失阿里巴巴上市引发反思

The head of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said Alibaba’s decision to sell shares on Wall Street compelled a reappraisal of its listing process to avoid missing out on the next wave of fast-growing Chinese companies seeking initial public offerings.

香港交易所(HKEx)负责人表示，当年阿里巴巴(Alibaba)转赴华尔街上市的决定，促使该交易所重新评估其上市流程，以避免错过下一波寻求首次公开发行(IPO)的快速增长的中国内地企业。

After months of fierce debate, HKEX will allow companies deemed “innovative” — such as some technology businesses — to list with dual-class share structures from the second half of the year, according to people close to the process.

据亲身了解评估过程的人士介绍，经过数月的激烈辩论，香港交易所将允许被视为“创新”的企业(如一些科技企业)从今年下半年起以双层股权结构上市。

HKEX chief executive Charles Li said that Chinese technology giant Alibaba’s record-breaking $25bn flotation in 2014 on the New York Stock Exchange, where companies can list with structures in which some shares carry more voting rights than others, made HKEX “reckon with this issue”.

港交所行政总裁李小加(Charles Li)表示，中国科技巨擘阿里巴巴2014年在纽约证交所(NYSE)进行创纪录的250亿美元上市，使得香港交易所开始思索这个问题。在纽约，上市公司可采用一些特别的股权结构，让某些股票比其他股票拥有更大投票权。

“That transaction [Alibaba] gave us a huge opportunity to review our structure and allowed us to make a series of decisions that led us here today,” Mr Li told the Financial Times.

“(阿里巴巴)那笔交易给了我们一个巨大的机会，让我们重审自己的结构，并能够做出一系列的决定，最终得到今天这样的局面，”李小加对英国《金融时报》表示。

Dual-class share structures tend to appeal to technology companies and family-run businesses where the founders want to retain more control. They enable companies to issue shares with different voting rights, rather than the traditional “one share one vote” structure. It can give company founders greater power over the companies even if they hold only a small proportion of shares.

双层股权结构往往会吸引那些创始人希望保留更多控制权的科技公司和家族企业。它们使公司能够发行带有不同投票权的股票，而非传统的“一股一票”结构。这种安排使公司创始人能够对企业保留更大权力，即使他们只持有一小部分股票。

Market participants, including banks, fund managers and lawyers, are responding to the exchange’s plans. However, a number of global fund managers have already voiced concerns about investors’ diminished voting rights.

银行、基金经理和律师等市场参与者正对港交所的计划作出回应。然而，多家全球基金管理公司已经对投资者的投票权减少表示担忧。

“We are concerned about the implications for good corporate governance in the Hong Kong market and other markets,” said Jenn-Hui Tan, director of corporate finance at Fidelity International.

“我们担心此举在香港乃至其他市场给优良公司治理带来的潜在影响，”富达国际(Fidelity International)企业融资总监Jenn-Hui Tan表示。

Resistance to companies with dual-class shares has also gained traction in the US. Last July, FTSE Russell decided to exclude Snap after the US social media and technology company sold shares with no voting rights.

与此同时，美国也出现了抵制双层股权公司的势头。去年7月，富时罗素(FTSE Russell)决定将Snap排除在外，因为这家美国社交媒体和科技公司发售无投票权的股票。

The plans by HKEX are designed to attract some of the new economy and technology firms planning for blockbuster listings. The Singapore stock exchange is also considering dual-class shares, and could provide an update to the market as early as this week, according to people close to the situation.

香港交易所的计划旨在吸引一些计划进行大规模上市的新经济和科技公司。知情人士称，新加坡证券交易所也在考虑双层股权结构的股票，而且最快在本周就向市场介绍最新情况。

New economy companies include fintech and technology stocks, a number of which are fast-growing and are seeking to list in the coming months. Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker, this week appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to lead its flotation, which could value the group as high as $100bn.

新经济公司包括金融科技和科技公司，其中一些公司正在快速成长，并寻求在未来几个月上市。小米(Xiaomi)本周任命高盛(Goldman Sachs)和摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)牵头安排其上市，届时对这家中国智能手机制造商的估值可能高达1000亿美元。

“The urgency is China’s development today has finally come to a point of potential breakthrough,” Mr Li said. China is starting to leapfrog the US and Europe in terms of its digital services, because the country does not have long-established and adequate infrastructure in various sectors, he added.

“紧迫之处在于，中国今天的发展终于到达了一个潜在突破点，”李小加表示。他补充称，中国在数字服务方面正开始蛙跳式发展，一举超越美国和欧洲，因为中国在多个行业不具备发达、完善的基础设施。

Mr Li said that when Alibaba was preparing to list, HKEX was not ready as it needed to follow “due process” and consult the market before pushing ahead with allowing for dual share class structures.

李小加表示，当阿里巴巴准备上市的时候，香港交易所还没有准备好，因为它需要走“正当程序”，在允许双层股权结构之前征求市场意见。

“Obviously we will not allow our market to be marginalised on this most important transformative phenomenon that is likely going to define [the] Chinese economy in the next 20 years.”

“显然，我们不会允许我们的市场在这轮最重要的、具有变革意义的发展中被边缘化，这轮发展很可能会在未来20年界定中国经济。”

He added: “If a lack of this system [dual class shares] in Hong Kong has the undesired, unintended, twisted consequence of forcing people to do an offering in a market that is not their natural choice — that actually does not serve them well, which means investors investing in these companies may not necessarily be getting the best result.”

他补充说：“如果香港缺乏这种(双层股权)制度，结果迫使人们在某个并非他们自然选择的市场上市，那么这种不可取的、并非出于本意的、扭曲的后果实际上对他们并不好，这进而意味着投资于这些公司的投资者可能未必得到最好的结果。”

Shares in HKEX rose 5.9 per cent on Tuesday and have gained 56 per cent over the past twelve months.

港交所股价周二上涨5.9%，在过去12个月累计上涨56%。