What Is a Relisted Company?
A relisted company is one that returns to the public market after a period of not beingquoted on an exchange. Companies candelist for two primary reasons: they fail to comply with various listing requirements, or they willingly remove shares from the market, as Dell did from 2013 to 2018.
Other potential reasons fordelisting a stockinclude a forthcoming bankruptcy, failure to file mandatory reports, or share prices below the exchange's minimum threshold. When the companyputs its house in order and meets the listing requirements, it can apply to relist its shares. Oftentimes, relisting a company is met with mixed opinionsfrom investors and may have onlylimited success during its second stint on the market.
Key Takeaways
- With relisting, a company's shares are made available again on a public market after a period of having been unavailable publicly, due to having been pulled from that market.
- Usually, a relisted company is one that was pulled from a public market due to bankruptcy, failing to fulfill an exchange's requirements, or in some cases, voluntarily by the company.
- Relisted companies are often met with wariness by investors, who perceive the shares as still being tainted by the company's previous issues; however, there are instances when relisted shares are embraced by buyers.
- A company subject to delisting for failing to meet an exchange's requirements will typically have 30 days toresolve the issues, which could include falling below the minimum share price or failing to pay listing fees.
Understanding Relisting
A relisted company, unlike a hot initial public offering (IPO), is often received with mixed reactions and may even weigh down share prices. Investors may factorin the company's previous indiscretions when evaluating therelisted shares. If the conditions that triggered the delistingwere fundamental, meaning issues inthe income statement like shrinking revenue orprofit, the stock's appeal would likely fall even further.
Historically, few companies have reached similar highs or valuations after relisting shares, but it's certainly not a death sentence. Many companies canand have returned to compliance and relisted on a major exchange like theNasdaq after delisting.
To be relisted, a company has to meet all the same requirements it had to meet to be listed in the first place.
Overview of theDelisting Process
Listing on a major exchange requires companies to meet several requirements, including a minimum share price, a certain valuation of all publicly issued shares, a code of conduct applicable to all employees, and ongoing disclosure of all material news, among other factors. If a company fails to meet any of these conditions, the exchange will send a deficiency noticebefore beginning the delistingprocedures.
The company usually has 30 consecutive days to address the outstanding problems before receiving an official delisting notice. Some requirements like falling below the minimum share price are difficult to fix but others like listing fees have a simple solution—pay the fee.
When a stock is delisted from a major exchange and moved down to the OTCBB or the pink sheets, you still own the shares you bought, but you may want to weigh whether you want to continue owning the shares, considering the challenges the company is facing.
If the company believes the delistingnotice is unwarranted, they can file an appeal to the exchange typically within seven to ten days of receiving the delisting letter. They can also appeal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a federal court in the event it fails to convince the exchange listing qualification panel.
Neither the OTC Markets Group nor the OTC Bulletin Board have listing standards, but the SEC still requires companies to file current material before issuing a stock over the counter.
When a stock is delisted from a major exchange, it will often move over to either the more regulated Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) or the less-regulated pink sheets system. Dropping off of one of the major exchanges tends to result in a loss of investor confidence, and institutional investors may stop researching and trading the stock, giving individual investors less access to information. Stocks that are delisted and drop down to the OTCBB orthe pink sheets tend to be seen as on the road to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
