Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (“HKIAC”) successfully held the 11th Hong Kong Arbitration Week from 24 to 28 October 2022. We are honored to sponsor and support the Hong Kong Arbitration Week again and attended the ADR in Asia Conference (“ADR Conference”) as an Exhibitor on 26 October. The Arbitration Week received strong support from 22 well-known Hong Kong and international institutions, including the Asian International Arbitration Center (AIAC), the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration (ICC), the Hong Kong Department of Justice and the Law Society of Hong Kong.

From the left: our Senior Associate Mr. Calvin Huang, Consultant Ms. Jennifer Li, Partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department Ms. Heidi Chui, Senior Associate Mr. Kyle Lo, Paralegal Ms. Cathy Yang, Marketing and Communications Executive Ms. Julia Yeung

As the flagship event of Hong Kong Arbitration Week, this year’s ADR Conference was conducted in a hybrid format. Under the theme “The Future is Here”, experts from the international arbitration field were invited to discuss Arbitration and Alternative Fees, Cryptocurrency Disputes, and the Impact of ESG on International Arbitration. The ADR Conference invited HKIAC’s Secretary Dr. Mariel Dimsey to deliver the opening remarks, The Right Honourable Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury GBS, Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as the Keynote Speaker, and HKIAC’s Co-Chair Mr. David W. Rivkin to deliver the closing remarks.

About HKIAC and Hong Kong Arbitration Week

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) was established in 1985 by a group of leading businesspeople and professionals to meet the growing need for dispute resolution services in Asia. Over the past 30 years, HKIAC has become one of the world’s leading dispute resolution organizations, specializing in arbitration, mediation, adjudication and domain name dispute resolution.

Hong Kong Arbitration Week is a major annual event organized by HKIAC. It aims to provide a leading exchange platform in international arbitration to develop and promote Asia Arbitration through conferences, luncheons and evening receptions.

HKIAC’s Secretary Dr. Mariel Dimsey delivered the opening remarks

The Right Honourable Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region delivered the Keynote remarks

HKIAC’s Co-Chair Mr. David W. Rivkin delivered the closing remarks

Please contact our Partner Ms. Heidi Chui for further information about this event.

Introduction

On 19 October 2022, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Exchange”) published a consultation paper on the proposed amendments to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the “Listing Rules”) in relation to a Listing Regime for Specialist Technology Companies (the “Consultation Paper”). In particular, the Exchange seeks to create a new Chapter 18C to govern the listing of Specialist Technology Companies, taking into consideration of the high growth potential of Specialist Technology Companies (“STCs”).¹ The Exchange is seeking market feedback on its proposals by 18 December 2022.

Definition of “Specialist Technology Companies”

A broad definition is adopted so as to reserve the Exchange’s flexibility to publish and update the guidance letter as specialist technology industries (“Specialist Technology Industries”) evolve over time. STC is proposed to be defined as “a company primarily engaged (whether directly or through its subsidiaries) in the research and development of, and the commercialisation and/or sales of, specialist technology products within an acceptable sector of a Specialist Technology Industry”.²

A non-exhaustive list of Specialist Technology Industries and acceptable sectors will be published and updated from time to time. The proposed industries are set out as follows:³

(i) Next-generation information technology;
(ii) Advanced hardware;
(iii) Advanced materials;
(iv) New energy and environmental protection; and
(v) New food and agriculture technologies.

The Exchange proposes not to limit eligible applicants to those with “leading-edge” technologies. This aligns with the stakeholders’ view that the success of a STC is often attributable to the successful commercialisation of the core technology rather than the innovativeness of the technology itself. Moreover, companies with multiple business segments are included in the proposed listing regime for STCs, provided that they are “primarily engaged” in the relevant business (as referred to in the definition of STC).⁴

Background Issues

The Exchange recognises the necessity to regulate STCs since they pose particular regulatory issues:⁵

Categorisation into Commercial and Pre-Commercial Companies

The Exchange proposes that STCs will be categorised into “Commercial” and “Pre-Commercial” companies, with revenue threshold as a “bright line” test. ⁶

“Commercial Companies” are those that have achieved meaningful commercialisation of their Specialist Technology Products and achieved a minimum revenue of HK$250 million in the most recent audited financial year, and are also expected to demonstrate year-on-year growth of revenue from the Specialist Technology Business. ⁷ Pre-Commercial companies will be subject to more stringent requirements as stated below. ⁸

Requirements

The below table sets out a comparison of the key requirements for Commercial Companies and Pre-Commercial Companies to be eligible for listing as set out in the Consultation Paper: ⁹

Analysis and Takeaways

Since 2018, the Exchange has been active in implementing listing reforms, which range from permitting the listing of pre-revenue biotech companies, the listing of WVR Issuers that are considered innovative, to the creation of a new concessionary secondary listing route for overseas issuers listed on a qualifying exchange.

However, it is considered that Hong Kong still lags behind the US and Mainland China in terms of the number and market capitalisation of STCs (or their equivalent), which was explained by (i) the difficulty of Pre-Commercial Companies to meet the profit, revenue or cash flow requirements of the Exchange’s Main Board eligibility tests; and (ii) that Commercial Companies are often not able to meet the Main Board tests. It is therefore crucial to develop a listing regime which is friendlier to STCs since there is a strong appetite among investors to invest in these companies due to their high growth potential, ¹⁰ which in turn increase the competitiveness of the Hong Kong market and promote Hong Kong as a fundraising and technology hub of the Greater Bay Area.

Please contact our Mr. Rodney Teoh (Partner) and our Calvin KW Lo (Paralegal (pending admission)) for any enquiries or further information.

This news update is for information purposes only. Its content does not constitute legal advice and should not be treated as such. Stevenson, Wong & Co. will not be liable to you in respect of any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage arising from or in connection with any decision made, action or inaction taken in reliance on the information set out herein.

¹ Consultation Paper, appendix IV, at IV-4
² Consultation Paper p. 29
³ Consultation Paper p. 30
⁴ Consultation Paper p. 32
⁵ Consultation Paper pp. 3 to 4
⁶ Consultation Paper p. 34
⁷ Consultation Paper pp. 4, 39 to 40
⁸ Consultation Paper p. 35
⁹ Consultation Paper pp. 5-10
¹⁰ Consultation Paper pp. 2-3

Enterprises believe Cyber-Security solutions nowadays are able to tackle the problems all in one, but there are other comprehensive solutions that can provide particular solutions as well. To Know more about the needed configurations and necessary steps to equip yourself in nowadays Cyber Risk Management.

We are going to have a hybrid seminar coming up to walk through the takeaway points from each Cyber Risk. A better reference for you to navigate through this Cyber Security journey. What are these cyber-attacks and how to navigate through the World with Datastore on Cloud/On-Premise options?

Details:
Date: 4 Nov 2022 (Friday)
Time: 1pm to 2pm
Speakers:
Mr. Anthony Cheung | Director of TechMem (Hong Kong) Limited
Ms. Milly Hung | Partner, Stevenson, Wong & Co.
Mr. Michael Lau | Senior Associate, Stevenson, Wong & Co.
Language: English
Fee: Free
Registration method:
This hybrid seminar will take place at our office and live stream on Zoom.
Venue: 39/F, Gloucester Tower, the Landmark, Central
Online: Zoom
Please scan the QR codes in the poster below to register.

Contents:

• What are at risk? (From Cyberattacks, e.g. Data, Operations, etc.)
• What is the blast radius? (Penalty, Reputations, Commercial Loss)
• How did it happen? (What’s baking behind?)
• What are the measures nowadays to tackle them?
• What’s the mentality when addressing Cyber Risk in your own company?
• What are the guidelines and regulations from HKMA and HKIA to contain the risk? (Tackling AML, GDPR, and Regional Handshake)

We shall go through all of these points in the upcoming webinar and give references and real-life examples of how these impacts are prevented, in particular from an experienced Cyber-Security Lead in FSI (Financial Service Industry) to walk through the measures and expertise in this area.

By the end of the webinar, participants could sign up for free Cyber Risk Assessments to indicate the Cyber Risks (How did it handle now and what is suggested) in your unique IT environment.

For any inquiries, please contact us at: marketing@sw-hk.com.

On 18 October 2022, our Partner Milly Hung and Senior Associate Michael Lau were invited by the Law Society of Hong Kong to be the webinar speakers of “Litigation in Cybercrime”.

Our Partner Milly Hung (on the right) and Senior Associate Michael Lau (on the left)

By highlighting the common cybercrime in Hong Kong, Milly and Michael has led the participants to go through various common civil and criminal actions against the cybercrime fraudsters. To handle the aftermath, they shared their previous experiences about the “Letter of No Consent” Regime and the ways to trace and claim back the assets that have been misappropriated as a result of the Cybercrime.

For more information, please contact our Partner Milly Hung.

(中文) 本所荣幸获香港中资银行业协会 (以下简称 “协会” ) 委任为法律事务委员会顾问, 并与协会其他专业委员会之委员和法律顾问共同参与委任状之颁赠仪式。该典礼于2022年10月17日在中国银行大厦举行。本所合伙人、银行与金融部和诉讼与争议解决部主管徐凯怡律师受邀出席。此外，协会其他专业委员会之顾问单位，包括德勤 (Deloitte) ﹑普华永道 (PwC) ﹑安永 (EY) 和毕马威 (KPMG) 的代表亦参与了委任仪式。

左起: 立法会议员、香港中资银行业协会法律事务委员会执委会主任简慧敏女士、本所合伙人徐凯怡律师、立法会议员(金融界)、香港中资银行业协会副会长兼秘书长陈振英先生

徐律师就本次委任表示: 非常荣幸我所获香港中资银行业协会委任为法律顾问，为协会之法律事务﹑会务和业界未來发展提供支持，贡献微薄的力量。期待日后与各专业委员会之委员和会员，有更多的交流和合作。祝愿协会未來的工作成果丰硕，会务蒸蒸日上！

关于香港中资银行业协会

香港中资银行业协会为2016年于香港注册成立的非牟利社团，由中国银行(香港)有限公司、中国工商银行(亚洲)有限公司、中国农业银行股份有限公司香港分行、中国建设银行(亚洲)股份有限公司、交通银行股份有限公司香港分行及国家开发银行香港分行6家机构共同发起。协会会员主要为中资银行，亦吸纳业界不同背景的会员。

关于法律事务委员会

法律事务委员会为香港中资银行业协会辖下的专业委员会之一，其职责包括: 协助会员了解相关法律要求，防范法律风险和构建会员在法律专业范畴的统一沟通协调平台。此外, 亦包括就与银行业务有关的立法或对业界发展有重大影响的法律咨询事项收集会员意见并提交予相关机构，以及与内地、香港及其他相关国家/地区的法律界建立工作联系等。

如阁下有任何查询或想了解更多详情，请联络本所合伙人徐凯怡律师。

LexisNexis recently announced the winners of 40 under 40. Our Partner Gordon Tsang was recognised as one of the winners of LexisNexis 40 UNDER 40 and invited to attend the award ceremony luncheon held at The China Club on 14 October 2022.

The inaugural award aims to recognize 40 young talent aged 40 years old or under across various legal fields in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Winners are selected for delivering the best and best-in-class work ethics to their clients, partners, and colleagues together with showing exceptional passion to grow and lead the development of the legal sector in Greater China.

Gordon Tsang | Partner
Practice Areas: China Practice, Corporate Commercial Law, Corporate Services, Corporate Finance

Gordon has experience handling a wide range of corporate and commercial matters, including pre-IPO restructuring and financing, Hong Kong and U.S. IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, loan and financing transactions, corporate governance and general compliance for listed companies as well as private enterprises.

Gordon is a Non-Executive Director of China Regenerative Medicine International Ltd (Stock Code: 8158), the Independent Non-Executive Director of Sterling Group Holdings Limited (Stock Code: 1825) and CROSSTEC Group Holdings Limited (Stock Code: 3893). He is also the Company Secretary of 1957 & Co. (Hospitality) Limited (Stock Code: 8495), Sunshine 100 China Holdings Ltd (Stock Code: 2608), Mabpharm Limited-B (Stock Code: 2181) and Sundy Service Group Co. Ltd (Stock Code: 9608).

Gordon has successfully assisted Magic Empire Global Limited (NASDAQ: MEGL), Intelligent Living Application Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ILAG), Zhong Yang Financial Group Limited (NASDAQ: TOP), Hywin Holdings Ltd. (NASDAQ: HYW) and Oriental Culture Holding Ltd (NASDAQ: OCG) on their NASDAQ listing.

For more information, please contact our Partner Gordon Tsang or visit Gordon’s profile on LexisNexis 40 UNDER 40 here.