South Korea to allow foreign firms to hold IPOs

South Korean financial authorities said Sunday they had eased listing rules to allow foreign firms to hold initial public offerings on the country's bourse.
"Foreign companies which have never listed on overseas exchanges are allowed the primary listing in which they can list stocks on the local bourse," the Financial Supervisory Committee said in a statement. The rules were revised Friday "in line with the principle of treating domestic and foreign businesses equally" to globalise the local bourse, it said.
Both domestic and foreign companies are subject to the same listing requirements and procedures, the financial regulator said.
To list in South Korea, firms must post 20 billion won (19.7 million dollars) in annual average sales over the past three years and more than 10 billion won in shareholders' capital.