Could mpe capitalize on this...eg USE the tsxI would think one could maybe springboard the fact that mpe is already on the tsx.v to get word out to more Chinese investors in conjunction with the TSX. trip...Also Chinese are used to gazillions of shares re float on some of their internal exchanges...and mpe...has a very narrow passage re float...so increased interest...re tsxv. and mpe awareness in China can only help mpe...along with growing sales. Good luck to all...just imo.
TheStar.com | Business | TSX chief heads for China to drum up new business
TSX chief heads for China to drum up new business
Email story
Print
Choose text size
Report typo or correction
License this article
Digg this story
Add to Facebook
Tag on Delicious
Toronto bourse strives to thrive on increasingly global investment stage
Oct 13, 2007 04:30 AM
RITA TRICHUR
BUSINESS REPORTER
The Toronto Stock Exchange is trying to cash in on its cachet as a top bourse for small and medium-sized companies by wooing more Chinese issuers as it grapples with stiffer competition for those lucrative new listings.
Starting today, TSX Group chief executive officer Richard Nesbitt leads a business development group to China. It's his first such trip to the Asian country but the third by TSX officials this year.
Nesbitt will spend the next week meeting with top government and business officials, while capping his visit with an address at a "road show" in Beijing. Similar seminars are also planned for Zhengzhou and Kunming.
"China is an important market to TSX Group," Nesbitt said in a release. "I am looking forward to meeting with potential issuers and learning more about this market where we see significant potential."
The TSX has listed more than 50 Chinese and Chinese-related companies and is hungry for more. Chinese companies, too, are eager to raise capital but have limited opportunities to do so in their own backyards, said Gilbert Chan, vice-president of Goldpac Investments Ltd., which specializes in Chinese companies.
"If you are a small to medium-sized company, you have a long lineup to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. If you go to Hong Kong, you may not qualify," Chan said. "Toronto wants to get a piece of the pie."
Nevertheless, the TSX is facing tough competition for those listings from larger global players, particularly United States bourses and the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. The TSX dubs itself the world's premier exchange for resource companies, but Chan says it has achieved only limited success in conveying that message to Chinese players.
"We do not have the same profile as a New York or a London, but having said that, there are different courses for horses," said Michael Manley, chair and CEO of Wesbridge Capital Corp., which provides advisory services to Chinese companies looking to list in Canada. "A small to medium-sized company in China probably won't get much attention on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. So, they are much better off to come to an exchange like Toronto."
Listings by fertilizer companies Migao Corp. and Hanfeng Evergreen Inc., along with Hanwei Energy Services Corp. have generated positive word-of-mouth for the TSX in China, Manley said.
But the TSX should also seek more dual listings, Chan said. In June, investment company Harmony Asset Ltd., which has traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1993, also listed on the TSX.
Said Chan: "That will be the next trend for Toronto to capture, as far as I can see."