“We have been studying it for some time, but we are concerned about the demand for the product,” TWSE senior vice president Michael Lin (林火燈) said by telephone yesterday, confirming a report by Chinese-language Commercial Times.
He said it’s unlikely the plan will be implemented this year. The sides have discussed listing each other’s ETFs since 2008, Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc spokesman Naoya Takahashi said.
ETFs such as iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund, which typically are designed to mimic the performance of market indexes and commodities such as gold, are baskets of individual securities structured as stocks that are traded on an exchange. ETFs are gaining popularity among investors because they are cheaper and easier to trade than similar mutual funds.
Taiwan also plans to list ETFs in Shanghai. Last year, the regulator approved the listing of World Index Shares ETFs — Polaris CSI 300 Fund, the first Hong Kong exchanged-traded fund on Taiwan Stock Exchange, paving the way for domestic investors to buy funds linked to Chinese shares. Taiwan’s first ETF in Hong Kong, the Polaris Taiwan Top 50 Tracker, was listed last year.
Japan also has cross-listings of ETFs with New York, London and South Korea, Takahashi said.
Separately, United Envirotech Ltd (聯合環境技術), a water treatment firm from Singapore, is seeking to issue Taiwan Depository Receipts (TDR) to raise funds on the main board, the TWSE said on Wednesday.
United Envirotech, which has been listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) since 2004, has filed an application with the TWSE to raise NT$384 million (US$12.06 million) by issuing 32 million TDRs, with each TDR representing 1.25 United Envirotech common shares, according to the company’s prospectus.
The Singapore firm is the seventh foreign company to seek approval to sell TDRs in Taiwan so far this year and the first foreign water treatment company to try to raise funds in Taiwan, the TWSE said.
“We will soon hold a meeting to review the application. If everything goes smoothly, the TDR listing is expected in the fourth quarter of this year,” a TWSE official in charge of the TDR sale plan said.
During the April 2008 to March 2009 period, United Envirotech posted S$14.85 million (US$10.92 million) in net profit, compared with S$3.66 million recorded a year earlier.
Currently, a total of 18 foreign companies trade their TDRs on the TWSE.
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