NYSE relaxes requirements to bring in China firms

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is to lower its listing requirements as it bids to trump US rival NASDAQ in the China market, the South China Morning Post reported. The exchange is now willing to bend the rules on a case-by-case basis, shifting profitability requirements by up to 20% on one occasion, according to one source. The NYSE requires that overseas registered companies must have posted a combined pre-tax profit of at least US$100 million over three years. Another proviso states that firms can list if they have a market value of US$500 million and revenues of US$100 million or a market value of US$750 million and revenues of US$75 million. NYSE has been losing ground to NASDAQ over Chinese listings, with only four mainland companies coming to sell shares in the last two years while 12 firms went to its smaller US rival. In terms of total funds raised by Chinese companies, NASDAQ is leading NYSE by US$1.3 billion to US$1 billion over the same period.