tyb
Nasdaq to tighten listing rules, restricting Chinese IPOs
NEW YORK- Nasdaq Inc is set to unveil new restrictions on initial public offerings (IPOs), a move that will make it harder for some Chinese companies to debut on its stock exchange, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. While Nasdaq will not cite Chinese companies specifically in the changes, the move is being driven largely by concerns about some of the Chinese IPO hopefuls' lack of accounting transparency and close ties to powerful insiders, the sources said. At a time of escalating tensions between the United States and China over trade, technology and the spread of the novel coronavirus, Nasdaq's new curbs on Chinese IPOs represent the latest flashpoint in the financial relationship between the world's two largest economies.
Nasdaq also unveiled some restrictions on listings last year, seeking to curb IPOs by small Chinese companies. Their shares often trade thinly because most stay in the hands of a few insiders. Their low liquidity makes them unattractive to many large institutional investors, to whom Nasdaq is seeking to cater to. The new tightening of the listing standards reflects the bourse operator's concerns about some Chinese companies seeking U.S. IPOs. Last month, Luckin Coffee LK.O, which had a U.S. IPO in early 2019, announced that an internal investigation had shown its chief operating officer and other employees fabricated sales deals.
The new rules will require companies from some countries, including China, to raise $25 million in their IPO or, alternatively, at least a quarter of their post-listing market capitalization, the sources said. This is the first time Nasdaq has put a minimum value on the size of IPOs. The change would have prevented several Chinese companies currently listed on the Nasdaq from going public. Out of 155 Chinese companies that listed on Nasdaq since 2000, 40 grossed IPO proceeds below $25 million, according to Refinitiv data.
Small Chinese firms pursue these IPOs because they allow their founders and backers to cash out, rewarding them with U.S. dollars they cannot easily access because of China’s capital controls. The companies also use their Nasdaq-listed status to convince lenders in China to fund them and often get subsidies from Chinese local authorities for becoming publicly traded.
The proposed rules will also require auditing firms to ensure that their international franchises comply with global standards, the sources said. Nasdaq will also inspect the auditing of small U.S. firms that audit the accounts of Chinese IPO hopefuls, the sources added. U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox Business in an interview last week that he was looking "very strongly" at requiring Chinese companies that list in New York to follow U.S. accounting standards. But he noted that "the problem with that" was that Chinese companies could decide to list in London or Hong Kong instead. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been locked in a decade-long struggle with the Chinese government to inspect audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies. The regulator’s accounting oversight arm, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), is still unable to access those critical records, it has said. The PCAOB, which was set up by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act and is overseen by the SEC, is tasked with policing the accounting firms that sign off on the books of the nation’s listed companies. Its problems with Chinese audit quality have been festering since 2011, when scores of Chinese companies trading on U.S. exchanges were accused of accounting irregularities.
The SEC is planning to host a roundtable this summer for companies, auditors, advisers and other parties to discuss issues with IPOs of foreign companies and their accounting disclosures, one of the sources said.
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/exclusive-nasdaq-to-tighten-listing-rules-restricting-chinese-ipos-sources-2020-05-18-0
That's all fine and dandy however you need to take out the other avenue they used…namely buying up pink sheet or OTC companies that already have a granted license(s)-to which said chinese "companies" would then populate into the shell they purchased thus by-passing any audit because they walked around any regulations by doing it that way.
Intercontinental Exchange Prices $2,500,000,000 in Senior Notes and Issues Notice of Redemption of 2.75% Senior Notes due 2020
moar debt floated by the world's market overlord.-some familiar names are running the book here plus LOOP Capital
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, announced today that it priced an underwritten public offering of $2.5 billion in new senior notes.
The senior notes comprise $1.25 billion in aggregate principal amount of 2.100% Senior Notes due 2030 (the “2030 Notes”) and $1.25 billion in aggregate principal amount of 3.000% Senior Notes due 2050 (the “2050 Notes” and, together with the 2030 Notes, the “Notes”). The offering is being made under a shelf registration statement and is expected to close on May 26, 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
ICE intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes for general corporate purposes, including to fund the redemption of its $1.25 billion aggregate principal amount of 2.75% Senior Notes due in December 2020 (the “2020 Senior Notes”) and to pay down a portion of its commercial paper outstanding. Following the pricing of the Notes, ICE delivered a notice of redemption of the 2020 Senior Notes to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as trustee under the indenture governing the 2020 Senior Notes, which will be delivered to the holders of the 2020 Senior Notes on May 26, 2020. The 2020 Senior Notes will be redeemed on June 25, 2020 in accordance with the terms of the indenture governing the 2020 Senior Notes.
The joint book-running managers for the Notes are BofA Securities, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, MUFG Securities Americas Inc., Loop Capital Markets LLC and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC.
The senior co-managers for the Notes are BBVA Securities Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., Fifth Third Securities, Inc., ICBC Standard Bank Plc, Mizuho Securities USA LLC and PNC Capital Markets LLC, and the co-managers for the Notes are Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, SG Americas Securities, LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC.
https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/intercontinental-exchange-prices-%242500000000-in-senior-notes-and-issues-notice-of
moar on ICE: https://www.intercontinentalexchange.com/index
Jeffrey Sprecher-founder, chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.
Sprecher has been married to U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler since 2004
from 2012
ICE to buy NYSE Euronext for $8.2 billion
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ice-nyse-idUSBRE8BJ0LK20121220
Republican senator Kelly Loeffler admits to millions MORE in stock sales after coronavirus briefing including ditching shares in retailers and buying into company that makes protective equipment as Justice Department launches Senate probe
-Loeffler and her husband traded about $1.4 million in stocks she reveals in new accounting
-The wealthy Loeffler was appointed to her seat as Republican junior senator for Georgia
-She was already under scrutiny for trades that followed a Jan. 24 Senate briefing on the coronavirus
-She sold $18.7 million in International Exchange stock, of which her husband is president
-Also sold in retail stores that have been hammered by the disease outbreak
-Loeffler's husband heads the New York Stock Exchange
-Her office denies she did anything wrong and that her investment advisors made the trades
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8176283/Republican-senator-Kelly-Loeffler-admits-millions-stock-sales-coronavirus-briefing.html
chek't diggies and links
MAGIC31 C-560 sw from Misawa AB and CNV7369 US Navy Clipper to the south
purchases that will not age well
good night anons