Baker & McKenzie's Cross-Border Listings App Addresses Clients' Need to Compare Global Listing Options

The Pitch/Paid Content.

By Amar Budarapu
Partner at Baker & McKenzie
In October, our Securities practice at Baker & McKenzie launched a first-of-its-kind cross-border listings app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app was designed to be an interactive resource for our investment bank and corporate clients. It provides users with timely legal and regulatory information for various stock exchanges around the world, and allows them to compare certain listing requirements between two exchanges.

The story of our app began in a more traditional medium – a book. Our Cross-Border Listings Handbook was first published in the fall of 2010 to assist clients in navigating the regulatory complexities involved in listing securities abroad. We decided to put the handbook together in response to the increase in cross-border IPOs we were seeing. Our clients were seeking to expand into other markets, tap new investors and take advantage of higher valuations. Our investment bank contacts were increasingly asking us to connect them with a capital markets lawyer in another part of the world as they too were advising clients on listing options in other markets.
With contributions from our Securities lawyers around the world, the handbook helps our clients compare and contrast the listing requirements for more than 25 stock exchanges. Since 2010, we have distributed more than 5,000 printed handbooks, including to representatives from more than 35 different investment banks. One client, an investment banker from China, noted, “I find this book very helpful….[Baker & McKenzie] has long been a trusted name to me since I joined the industry and I’m glad that, whilst other law firms make comparison of certain exchanges only, Baker & McKenzie actually had prepared such a comprehensive comparison.”
As we approached updating the handbook, we wanted to provide the content in a way that clients value. Drawing upon the extremely positive response to the handbook, especially by investment banks, we opted to present this information electronically, offering a suite of options, including the handbook in digital form, e-book (for Kindle, etc.) and now the mobile app, to fit the needs of clients who are evaluating their global listing options.
The Cross-Border Listings App is available for free on the App Store, and serves as a comprehensive tool for investment bankers, issuers, CFOs, in-house counsel and other members of management. In addition to outlining the listing requirements of more than 25 stock exchanges, the app allows users to actively engage with the content through an interactive map, one-touch side-by-side comparisons of exchanges and key requirements, bookmarking sections, highlighting text and adding personal notes. Additionally, users can connect with Baker & McKenzie lawyers based in or near the exchanges of interest.
This app, which has already been downloaded in 43 countries worldwide, comes at a time when companies are no longer limiting themselves to their home market for IPOs or secondary offerings. Working with their financial and legal advisors, they are thinking more creatively about their listing options, and the need to compare the requirements and benefits of each exchange has grown substantially.
In fact, even though overall global IPO volume has declined over the past year, top exchanges around the world are witnessing an increase in listings from abroad and more capital raised by issuers based in other jurisdictions.

In a recent analysis from Thompson Reuters, we noted that from January 2010 through June 2012, 78 percent of capital raised on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was from non-Hong Kong issuers; 66 percent of capital raised on the London Stock Exchange was by non-UK issuers; 42 percent of capital raised on the Toronto Stock Exchange was by non-Canadian issuers; and more than 200 listings in the United States were made by non-US issuers.
This interest in listing securities abroad can be attributed to a number of factors, including continued growth in emerging markets, the easing of certain regulatory requirements in the United States under the US JOBS Act, and continued economic difficulties in Europe. We expect to see continued interest in listing abroad with recent reviews of regulatory restrictions in London, and more competition among stock exchanges.
Companies want to maximize the return on their IPO, and the right exchange for a cross-border listing can provide a number of advantages, including access to additional capital or higher liquidity, favorable price-to-earnings multiples, increased brand recognition and visibility, and enhanced investor perception.
Our clients communicate across a variety of platforms and media, and we think apps can be an important part of how law firms engage clients. We are pleased to offer clients and the business community this tool, and look forward to communicating updates on cross-border listings in new and innovative ways.
Amar Budarapu is the Chair of Baker & McKenzie’s Global Securities Practice Group, based in Dallas, Texas. Baker & McKenzie’s Global Securities team comprises more than 350 securities lawyers in over 40 countries, and covers every major commercial, financial and industrial center in the world. The Firm represents issuers and investment banks in a wide variety of IPOs, cross-border listings and other capital markets transactions, including debt, equity and equity-linked issues, and in complex, multi-jurisdictional acquisitions and divestitures involving public companies. The practice is consistently ranked among the top corporate law firms globally and in the world’s largest capital markets.

The Pitch/Paid Content.