The Stock Exchange of Thailand will soon prohibit new and existing listed companies from lowering their par value to below 50 satang.
"The SET proposed to set an appropriate par value floor to prevent new and existing listed companies from splitting par value in a way that does not meet our objectives. We propose listed companies' par value must start from 50 satang because the initial public offering price based on this is neither too high nor low," it said in a statement.
Listed companies will be barred from splitting their par value below 50 satang.
However, the minimum 50-satang par value will not apply to stocks that had market prices of at least 100 baht over the past six months or companies that are under business rehabilitation.
Companies in business rehabilitation must meet the minimum requirement within 12 months after their par value drops below 50 satang or risk delisting, the SET said.
The minimum is part of the SET's amended criteria. Listing qualifications for the SET and the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) will also be revised.
The minimum requirements for equity and market capitalisation for companies listing on the SET will be raised to 500 million and 7.5 billion baht, respectively.
Current regulations require companies seeking a listing on the SET to have at least 300 million baht in equity, 5 billion in market value and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the latest year plus accumulated profit in the most recent years must be above zero.
For companies seeking an MAI listing, minimum paid-up capital will be increased to 50 million baht from 20 million, the equity minimum to 100 million from 20 million and the market value minimum to 1 billion from 500 million.
To list on the MAI based on profit criteria, at least 10 million baht in net profit is needed, up from more than zero.
The minimum free-float is to be raised to 25% of paid-up capital from 20% unless there is minimum paid-up capital of 3 billion baht.
Small firms with at least 10% owned by venture capital can list on the MAI if they have minimum paid-up capital of 20 million baht and a net profit of 10 million.