Exchange Supports Fostering Future Growth Industries Through KOSDAQ

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] The Korea Exchange is taking steps to support the nurturing of future new growth industries through the KOSDAQ market.

The Korea Exchange announced the 'KOSDAQ Market Headquarters 2020 Major Promotion Projects' on the 12th.

First, it will create a listing environment friendly to companies with excellent future growth potential. The entry requirements, currently divided into 11 types including general companies (4 types), unprofitable companies (5 types), and technology growth companies (2 types), will be simplified mainly based on market capitalization and reorganized to focus on market evaluation that reflects future growth potential.

To revitalize special listings, the professional evaluation system will be improved. The fairness among professional evaluation institutions will be enhanced to allow more specific assessments of technological competitiveness compared to competitors. Evaluation items will be changed to objectively assess the technological level, considering the characteristics of companies and industries.

Innovative company screening measures responding to changes in industry trends will also be developed. In collaboration with venture capital (VC), investment banks (IB), and others, key points for screening and screening criteria will be revised to support the listing of innovative companies in AI-based convergence industries.

Additionally, the Exchange plans to enhance the role of lead managers to activate listings of excellent innovative companies and support the scale-up of innovative companies through Business Development Companies (BDC).

To expand institutional and foreign investment, market promotion will be strengthened. Representative examples include joint inbound and outbound IR events targeting global investment institutions, enhanced promotion and marketing for domestic and foreign institutional investors, and support for the activation of English disclosures. Last year, the trading ratio of institutions and foreigners reached 15.8%, the highest since the opening of KOSDAQ.

Improvement of trading infrastructure to expand the investment base in the KONEX market is also included in this year’s promotion projects. The requirements for block trading applications will be relaxed to allow major shareholders and others to actively use block trading as a means of stock dispersion. Block trading is a trading method where the seller is a single party and the buyer is multiple parties, designed to support stock dispersion of KONEX-listed companies that can be directly listed without a public offering. The implementation plan will be announced in advance to secure sufficient buying demand.

Efforts will also be made to enhance market reliability through strengthening disclosure and accounting capabilities of listed companies. Disclosure information for innovative companies such as pharmaceutical and bio companies will be expanded to help investors better understand the disclosed content. For the professionalism of internal audits of listed companies, internal audit training programs compliant with the new external audit law will be prepared, and regular education and seminars for KOSDAQ companies will be held. Furthermore, consulting to establish internal accounting control systems suitable for industry and scale will be strengthened, accompanied by practical support education.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.