THE first company to be listed on the Labuan International Financial Exchange (LFX) has rescheduled its listing plan in favour of better timing, the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange said in a press release last Friday.

The listing on the LFX, which was to be held last Friday, has been rescheduled to a more appropriate date upon the request of listing sponsor, K&N Kenanga Holdings Bhd.

The statement added that K&N Kenanga has advised LFX that the listing has been rescheduled due to insufficient subscription, mainly influenced by regional and international market response to new issues.

Business Times, recently reported that the listing of a yet unnamed company _a subsidiary of a listed company in the US _ has had to be postponed.

The listing is expected to raise up to US$5 million (US$1 = RM3.80) through the issue of between 6.5 million and 8.5 million shares, with about two million to be made available to the public.

Bank Negara Malaysia recently indicated that several listings were in the pipeline for the exchange which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

Of late, several new listings on the local bourse witnessed disappointing subscription rates.

Edaran Digital System Bhd's public issue shares were undersubscribed by 86.41 per cent for its 14.2 million shares made available while those of Merge Housing's were undersubscribed by 74 per cent for the 22.5 million shares made available.

Century Logistics saw only a 27.3 per cent of its 4.7 million shares subscribed.

The minimum listing requirement for initial public offerings of equity on LFX is US$2 million, for investment funds, US$50 million and for debt securities, US$100 million.

Incorporated under the Offshore Companies Act 1990 with an authorised capital of US$5 million and a paid-up capital of US$1 million, LFX aims to facilitate funds inflow through the listing and trading of financial instruments.

LFX, in its drive to attract new players is competing with well-established exchanges in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands.

The exchange is also leveraging its strength like being in a time zone that can cater to trading in a multitude of financial instruments globally, and is accessible 24 hours a day through associations with other exchanges.

It also promotes extensive use of multimedia and Internet facilities, allowing accessibility through international network communications systems.