In the eyes of investors, IPO generally issues new shares and makes public offerings, but listing by way of introductionis more unique.
The difference between listing by way of introduction and a regular IPO is that no new shares will be issued, but the shareholders of the company will apply to list their old shares. In away, it does not involve financing.
According to the guidelines of the HKEx, listing by way of introduction has three forms:
1. The company applying for listing has already been listed on one stock exchange and is seeking to list on another exchange. Or the company is looking to switch to a different listing board it has been listed on.
2. Spin-offs refer to when listed corporations spin-off subsidiaries to be listed individually.
3. The third way is to exchange shares for listing. That is, trading stocks issued by oversea issuers in exchange for stocks of one or more Hong Kong issuers, their listing status will be revoked at the same time.