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ASX in the ‘sweet spot’ for foreign IPOs

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By Tim Stewart
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3 minute read

The past two years have seen a spike in the number of foreign companies looking to list on the ASX, with 263 foreign companies now on the exchange.

Speaking at the Stockbrokers and Financial Advisers Conference in Sydney yesterday, ASX chief executive Dominic Stevens said his company has been actively pursuing foreign listings.

The number of foreign listings on the ASX jumped from 26 in 2014 to 44 in 2015 and 46 in 2016.

Of the 263 current foreign listings on the ASX, 51 originated in New Zealand, 38 are from the US, 17 from Singapore, 15 from Israel, 11 from Malaysia and 2 from Ireland.

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Mr Stevens said Israel has been a successful focus of late, with the ASX taking part in three education and promotional delegations to the country.

"This has translated into 15 Israeli listings on ASX, across a variety of industry sectors and with many more in the pipeline," he said.

The ASX is developing a "sweet spot" capability for listing companies in the $50-500 million market capitalisation range, Mr Stevens said.

"Many companies in this range feel they’d be lost on NYSE or Nasdaq," he said.

"The depth of ASX’s market’s liquidity, sophisticated investor base, flexibility of our rules and quality of our corporate governance standards are among the most attractive features.

"The new admission criteria introduced in December 2016 lifted the bar for entry to ASX while still providing a pathway for companies to list and access capital across their lifecycle."

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