South Korea’s bourse operator said Thursday it will speed up the preliminary process for start-ups hoping to enter the third stock exchange to draw in more venture firms and investors to the fledgling market.
The Korea New Exchange was launched two years ago to serve as an incubator for young businesses, adding to the fleet of the main bourse KOSPI and the tech-laden KOSDAQ market.
To enter the third market, companies had to meet one of the following terms: capital over 500 million, over 1 billion won in annual sales or over 300 million won in net profit.
The Korea Exchange has abolished these requirements and increased the number of underwriters available from 16 to 51.
Starting from next month, firms that are over 20 percent owned by designated institutional investors will be able to go through a fast-track review process, the KRX said.
“We expect more companies to enter (the KONEX) as regulations that restricted entry of start-ups with growth potential were abolished,” the bourse operator said. “It will also help facilitate investment by venture capitalists.”
Seventy-five firms are currently traded on the KONEX and their total market capitalization stands at 2.79 trillion won ($2.51 billion) as of Wednesday.
In line with the efforts to vitalize the start-up market, the financial regulator plans to reduce the minimum investment requirement for retail investors by a third to 100 million won starting from June 29.
A series of deregulatory market measures have been introduced to support President Park Geun-hye’s “creative economy” initiative, which is designed to foster new economic drivers beyond the nation’s traditional manufacturing and heavy industries. (Yonhap)
