Chris Rushton is Lead Analyst, DACH Region; Jeff Jackson is Manager, Asia Research; and Marie Römer is Senior Research Analyst, DACH Region at Glass, Lewis & Co. This post is based on their Glass Lewis memorandum.
As governments, regional authorities, and companies adopt measures to curtail the spread of coronavirus, we are seeing an impact on annual shareholder meetings to be held in the coming months. Coronavirus, a respiratory disease, has been detected in 70 locations internationally and has been deemed “a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. Here is a review of how some global markets are addressing the situation.
Reporting and Meeting Delays
China
The Shenzhen (“SZSE”) and Shanghai (“SSE”) Stock Exchanges have taken a number of steps in response to the outbreak. They are extending the reporting period for annual results from March 30, 2020 to April 30, 2020; waiving initial an annual listing fees for issuers registered in Hubei province; and encouraging companies to hold their meetings electronically. As of February 16, 2020, the SSE had arranged for more than 70 companies to delay their annual report disclosure. Additionally, in an effort to mollify the economic impact of the virus on the Chinese markets, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) revised its rules (PDF) on Seasoned Equity Offerings (“SEO”) to allow for a greater discount on offering prices (80% of benchmark price, compared to 90% previously). Moreover, the upper limit of investors for each SEO has been increased to no more than 35 from 10, while the cap of the issuance size has been increased to 30% of the total share outstanding before the issuance.
