Hi G,
I think as shareholders we might be underestimating the impact the OTC listing will have to being eventually listed on the NASDAQ.
Effective August 2019 Nasdaq’s initial listing criteria was revised to include additional liquidity requirements for both the Global and Global Select Tier; "In addition to the above requirements, if the security is trading in the U.S. over-the-counter market as of the date of application, the security must have a minimum average daily trading volume of 2,000 shares (including trading volume of the underlying security on the primary market with respect to an ADR), over the 30 trading day period prior to listing, with trading occurring on more than half of those 30 days, unless such security is listed on the Exchange in connection with a firm commitment underwritten public offering of at least $4 million." Link:
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e825a79f-9c13-4fa5-ba1b-6d71cd23b475Coincidentally, GMV announced to market
23 August 2019 the withdrawal of NASDAQ capital raising prospectus to allow for formal filing of the OTC listing. "The Company remains focused on continuing to increase its operation and investor footprint in the US with the OTC listing forming part of this strategy. The Board may reconsider its NASDAQ listing in the future." Coincidentally, I wonder if this was a requirement placed upon the company back in August 2019.
On the
23 January 2020, GMV announced to market that they are approved to trade on the US OTCQB Market. "An active shareholder engagement program is planned in the USA to ensure out investment attractions and growth prospects are highlighted amongst new investors.
@more4less correctly pointed out at the start of the year that the company had intentions of attempting the NASDAQ again. IMO, the writing was on the wall at the start of the year.
Now if we take information readily available on GMMVF (
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GMMVF/), we can see the average traded volume is 3,656 and so far exceeding the requirement of having a minimum average daily trading volume of 2,000 shares. The current closing price of 9.5 c USD translates to a price of 13.2 cents AUD. If you take 13.2 cents as a base and multiply that by current shares on issue that being 838,831,581, the AUD market capitalisation is $110m AUD (or approximately $80m USD give or take exchange rates). With this in mind, we would qualify under the market value standard of the NASDAQ global tier easily. Take into consideration that the intention is to de-list from the ASX (with no mention what will happen to the OTC listing) it is my understanding from my research that this listing will be vital in attempting to up-list to the NASDAQ exchange.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/otc-nyse-nasdaq.asp - Under the heading the
Mechanics of Moving, "it must be approved for listing by an organized exchange by filling out an application and providing various financial statements verifying that it meets its standards. If accepted, the organization typically has to provide written notice to its previous exchange indicating its intention to voluntarily de-list. The exchange may require the company to issue a press release notifying shareholders about this decision. A company listed on several exchanges around the world may choose to de-list from one or more in order to curb costs and focus on its biggest investors. In some cases, firms have to involuntarily move to a different exchange when they no longer meet the financial or regulatory requirements of their current exchange."
58 companies up-listed from the OTC Markets to the NASDAQ, NYSE, or NYSE American in 2018:
https://pubcoceo.com/2019/01/09/58-companies-uplist-from-the-otc-to-nasdaq-nyse-in-2018/Of note, many small-cap and micro-cap issuers view the OTC Markets as a launching pad for a national NASDAQ or NYSE listing. Some other examples of companies up-listing from the OTC markets:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4312617-look-stocks-are-planning-to-uplistFor more information on up-listing, here is a link to a podcast:
http://www.malonebailey.com/Resources/Podcasts/Uplisting-to-Nasdaq/The company (GMV) is currently in a blackout period since filing the draft prospectus with the SEC.