BEIJING and NEW YORK, Feb. 9, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ICR, a leading financial communications consulting firm specializing in investor relations, corporate communications and digital media, and The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), the world's largest exchange company, today announced they will host a U.S. IPO Summit on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, at the St. Regis Beijing.
The U.S. IPO Summit, an exclusive event for Chinese enterprises seeking a U.S. listing, will educate China-based companies about best practices in the U.S. capital markets with a focus on today's more active areas of new issuance: healthcare, consumer, clean technology and education.
The Summit will bring together leading investment banking, legal and accounting firms along with ICR's experts to provide potential new issuers with best practice approaches to executing successful IPOs and upgrades in the U.S. capital markets. In addition, the event will provide companies with insight about industry-specific investor sentiment and expectations for new issuance activity.
"In today's global economy there are more options than ever to start and grow an international business. The U.S. IPO Summit is a great opportunity for fast-growing Asian businesses to access the capital markets expertise of a diverse and experienced group of Asia-focused investment banks, law firms and accounting firms," said Chad Jacobs and Tom Ryan, Co-CEOs of ICR. "Companies with operations in the Asia-Pacific region have demonstrated fast-paced and sustainable growth. Through this forum, we hope to educate pre-public and exchange upgrade eligible companies on the U.S. listing process so they may access the U.S. capital markets and obtain the proper investor base to support future growth initiatives."
Bob McCooey, Senior Vice President of New Listings and Capital Markets, NASDAQ OMX, stated, "We are excited to be partnering with ICR for this exclusive and timely event. This conference will help companies in the Asia-Pacific region to better understand the complexities and nuances associated with the U.S. capital markets. We believe 2010 will be an active year in the capital markets and investors have shown increasing interest in companies from the Asia-Pacific region."
Investment banks will lead sector-specific panels on Healthcare, Consumer, Clean Technology and Education focusing on:
- Deal activity, recent valuations and expected new issuance activity in each sector;
- Valuation metrics to track and communicate to potential investors;
- Recent investor feedback and concerns per sector;
- Key growth drivers for issuers to provide; and
- Developing trends and regulatory issues affecting each sector.
Team panels will educate attendees on broader featured topics, such as:
- The investment banking process overview and expected capital markets activity in 2010;
- An evaluation of listing in the U.S. versus other markets;
- Pre-IPO auditing process and timeline;
- Board of director selection and executive and director compensation; and
- Investor relations and financial communications pre- and post-IPO.
Regarding benefits companies will receive from the conference, Ashley Ammon and Bill Zima, Co-Heads of ICR's Asia practice said, "Attendees will have the chance to participate in panel discussions and one-on-one meetings with select teams dedicated to serving the Asia-Pacific market from leading investment banking, legal and accounting firms. In a one-day period, attendees will gain a deep understanding of the IPO, or 're-IPO' process in the U.S. capital markets."
In 2009, 33 Chinese companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market, an exchange of NASDAQ OMX, the most of any U.S. exchange during the past year. A total of 124 Chinese companies now list on NASDAQ, including 102 from mainland China and 22 from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. NASDAQ OMX has offices in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Sponsors on sector-focused new issuance activity include HSBC, Piper Jaffray and Jefferies & Co. The event will also feature key topics on re-IPOs from sponsors such as Rodman & Renshaw and Loeb & Loeb, as well as best practices in IPO-related services from BNY Mellon and Bowne.
Participation in the U.S. IPO Summit is by invitation only. Interested parties or members of the media who would like to attend should contact Wen Lei Zheng at 646-277-1215 or by email at wenlei.zheng@icrinc.com. For more information on the conference, please visit our website at: www.iposummit.com.
About ICR
ICR is a leading financial communications firm specializing in investor relations, corporate communications and digital media. Established in 1998, ICR represents more than 200, primarily publicly-listed companies and maintains offices in Westport, Conn., New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Beijing. ICR is one of the industry's fastest growing consultancies and is consistently listed among the nation's top independent communications consulting firms. http://www.icrinc.com/">www.icrinc.com.
About NASDAQ OMX:
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with over 3,700 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com.