The Shanghai Stock Exchange ("SSE") has recently formulated and issued the Replies to Questions Regarding the Implementing Rules for the Sale of Shares by Shareholders, Directors, Supervisors and Senior Management of Listed Companies (I) (the "Replies to Questions (I)"), and at the same time, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange ("SZSE") also published its Replies to Investors' Questions Regarding the Implementing Rules of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Sale of Shares by Shareholders, Directors, Supervisors and Senior Management of Listed Companies (II).
The Replies to Questions (I) deal with concerns in four respects. The first is how to apply the Implementing Rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange for the Sale of Shares by Shareholders, Directors, Supervisors and Senior Management of Listed Companies (the "Rules") to special businesses, including the issuance of shares for the purchase of assets or for the supporting financing, the employee stock ownership plan, stock ownership incentives, judicial enforcement, performance of a contract for the pledge of equities, grant, etc. The second is providing clarity on particular provisions in the Rules, such as how to apply the limits on the number of shares sold through centralized bidding transactions and block trading within any consecutive 90 days when a major shareholder reduces its shareholding ratio to lower than five percent. The third is explaining whether and how the Rules apply to previous violations arising before the entry into force of the Rules. And the fourth is about some other problems.