The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) plans to create a special market this year for the listing of “classified stocks”, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper has reported.
Classified stocks differ from common stocks in dividend payment and voting rights at shareholders’ meetings.
After the enforcement of the new Corporate Law, more corporations are issuing “preferred stocks” with no voting rights, which prioritize dividend payments to holders. So far, most of the classified stocks are issued in private placement, as they do not fulfill the listing standard.
Under the circumstances, issuance of the classified stocks does not have much benefit for issuers in obtaining finance from market.
According to Nikkei, in creating the new market TSE aims to make classified stocks more open to individual and overseas investors.