China’s biggest ride-hailing company, Didi Global, aims to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next year, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2022 after it ran afoul of Chinese regulators by pushing ahead with a $4.4 billion listing in the U.S in July 2021. A majority of shareholders approved that plan in May last year.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched an investigation into Didi just days after the firm made its debut in New York, citing a need to protect national security and the public interest.
Didi was banned by Chinese regulators from taking on new users and its app not available from mid-2021 until January 2023.
The ride-hailing firm was fined $1.2 billion in July 2022 over data-security breaches.
Didi has contemplated a Hong Kong listing previously, Reuters has reported, with a listing by introduction where new capital is not raised as one option.
The regulatory intervention against Didi prompted an immediate freeze on Chinese companies’ ambitions to list in the United States, and new share sale activity has yet to be bounce back.
Chinese authorities have since implemented a tough range of new laws that companies wanting to hold an overseas listings have to meet before carrying out an IPO.
Source: Reuters
