由美國直接上市制度近期之發展省思我國上市制度之變革方向

Reflection on the Reform Direction of Taiwan's Listing Rules Based on the Recent Development of Direct Listings in the United States

自從紐約證券交易所於2018年修改其直接上市規則並基此辦理了Spotify的直接上市案後，直接上市已成為國際資本市場法制重點關注的替代上市方式，直接上市省去發行新股程序與承銷程序使上市公司股東可於上市後直接在次級市場交易老股的上市模式，對於並無籌資需求但意欲創造其股份流通性的公司而言，具有一定的吸引力，極有潛力在傳統IPO上市外成為另一種重要上市方式，但其引發的監管顧慮，包括弱化承銷商的守門者功能、流通股數不確定、上市股價不穩定等風險，也成為直接上市法制重點關注的對象。；相較於此，我國上市制度受到過往老股承銷制度引發的投資人保護疑慮影響，自2004年推動承銷新制改革後，目前係以強制新股承銷為原則，基此衍生的強制發行新股要求、強制承銷要求、強制集中保管要求乃至強制登錄興櫃要求，皆形成我國引入直接上市制度的法規限制。為此本文擬以臺灣證交所目前的上市審查準則作為研究對象，採取比較法研究法的方式，以美國近期直接上市的法制發展與個案為鏡，思考直接上市對我國資本市場可能產生的效益，並進而探討未來是否開放直接上市，以及於我國設計直接上市相關法制時須留意的基本原則。

Since New York Stock Exchange amended its direct listing rules to handle the direct listing of Spotify in 2018, direct listings have received attention from international capital market laws as an alternative listing method. Direct listings can save the stock issuance process and underwriting procedures and allow issuer shareholders to trade their stocks in the secondary market, which is an appealing listing method for companies that do not need to raise funds but wish to create liquidity to their stocks. Therefore, it has the potential to serve as a major listing method separate from traditional IPO listings. Direct listings, however, also incur certain regulatory concerns, such as weakening the gatekeeper function of underwriters, an uncertain amount of circulating stocks, and unstable stock price, which have become crucial issues for direct listing laws. In comparison, Taiwan’s listing rules are affected by the investor protection concerns triggered by the traditional underwriting of issued shares and thus require underwriting of primary shares as the principle since the underwriting reforms in 2004. Requirements derived therefrom, such as mandatory IPOs, mandatory underwritings, mandatory central deposits, and mandatory emerging market listing, all constitute legal restrictions to introducing direct listings in Taiwan. This paper thus studies the current listing rules of the Taiwan Stock Exchange and adopts a comparative legal research method, based on the direct listing rules and cases recently developed in the United States, to assess the benefits of direct listings in Taiwan’s capital markets. It further explores whether to introduce direct listings in the future and the basic principles to be followed when designing the direct listing laws in Taiwan.