It was announced by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission that BVI-incorporated companies are now allowed to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This possibility was considered already for certain time, in November HKSE has issued a guidance letter which included this development, and now it has determined that BVI companies were quailified enough to be listed on the exchange.
In fact, many private equity firms have incorporated companies in the British Virgin Islands for the purpose of investing into China, and now they get the possibility to list in such an effective jurisdiction as Hong Kong, thus receiving an exit which has not yet been available without a significant restructurization.
Among the main reasons to allow the listing of the BVI companies on the HK Stock Exchange, there is the strong legal system of the BVI, and the fact that more than 60 BVI companies are listed on major stock exchanges in the world, including NYSE, Nasdaq, London’s Alternative Market (AIM), the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Singapore Stock Exchange.