The Qatar Stock Exchange would like to bring to the kind attention of investors that it is working closely with the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) and Qatar Central Securities Depository Company (QCSD) to put in place the selling and pricing mechanism of the rights issue as a new financial instrument in the market, in light of the QFMA regulations in this regard and the trading rules of the exchange.
Consultations are on-going between the three parties to define the mechanisms in implementation of Article (7a) of the QFMA's regulations with the aim of providing protection and flexibility to those shareholders who receive the rights to subscribe in the listed company’s capital increase. Accordingly the rights-holder will have the option either to exercise the rights by subscribing in the company’s capital increase, or sell the rights, fully or partially, in the market under the conditions and within the period specified in the QFMA regulations as well as in the market notice.
Rights issues are securities that entitle their holder the right to subscribe in the capital increase issued by the company and dedicated to its existing shareholders. According to the new QFMA's regulations in that regard, Rights issues can be listed and sold at the stock exchange. The number of rights issues will be equal to the number of shares in the capital increase to be issued by the company to its existing shareholders through the subscription process.
Additionally, QSE would like to bring to the kind attention of investors that the computation of the Right's theoretical price depends on the underlying share's price, and it has an expiry date after which the Rights lapse and become with no value, unless they are used in the subscription of the company's capital increase.
The QSE, being keen to raise awareness among investors, will launch a campaign to introduce this new investment tool and provide investors with all supporting information needed to enable them making the decision as to whether buy or sell or keep the right, in light of the related rules and regulations.
Through adding the rights to the investment portfolios of the eligible shareholders, the Right Issues selling rules and mechanism aim at compensating the eligible shareholders for the decline in the value of their investment portfolios resulting from the decline in the price of the share when traded on the X-Right date (the day following the deadline specified by the company's EGM for holding the share to be eligible to participate in the subscription of the company's capital increase).
QSE would like to urge investors to go through the QFMA's regulation on Rights Selling on their website: (http://www.qfma.org.qa/EnglishPdf/Selling_Right_Issues.pdf), as well as the QSE market notice that will be published soon for that purpose.
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Established in 1995, the Doha Securities Market (DSM) officially commenced operations in May 1997. Since then the Exchange has grown to become one of the leading stock markets in the GCC region and for two consecutive years (2010, 2011), was the best performing stock Exchange in the GCC. The DSM was later renamed the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE). QSE currently has 43 listed companies and its market capitalization is over QR730 billion (US$200 billion). The primary aim of QSE is to support Qatar’s economy by giving investors a platform through which they can trade fairly and efficiently. QSE also provides the public with access to market information, ensures correct disclosure of information, and enforces securities regulations. QSE is regulated by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority. For more information, please visit www.qe.com.qa