Nasdaq Has Suspended Exchange Delisting Rules

[Purveyor]

As the share prices of hundreds of companies plunged close to pocket-change levels in the market meltdown, the Nasdaq exchange suspended rules that would have forced those securities off the board if they kept trading below a dollar.

Citing "almost unprecedented turmoil" in world financial markets, Nasdaq put on hold some of the minimum requirements that companies must ordinarily meet to maintain a listing on the exchange. Under interim orders that expire Jan. 16, companies will not be delisted if their share price or total market value stalls below Nasdaq standards.

"Nasdaq believes that this temporary suspension will permit companies to focus on running their businesses, rather than satisfying market-based requirements that are largely beyond their control in the current environment," the exchange's managers said in an Oct. 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC approved the temporary rule change and allowed it to take effect that day.

The three-month reprieve will give troubled companies some breathing space to regroup, raise capital and possibly revive their valuations, said Jonathan MacQuitty, a partner in health care investment firm Abingworth Management Inc. in Menlo Park.

Securities forced off the main board can trade over the counter, but this can lead to dwindling share purchases, MacQuitty said. "You get less investor visibility," he said. "You enter a sort of no-man's-land where liquidity is low and investor interest is low."

[DJ13]

1. Do you have a link?

[mrJJ]

2. here

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/25/BUIH13NRHH.DTL