(Reuters) -Following are reactions to ride-hailing giant Didi Global’s decision to delist from the New York stock exchange and pursue a listing in Hong Kong, succumbing to pressure from Chinese regulators concerned about data security.
Didi ran afoul of Chinese authorities by pushing ahead with its $4.4 billion U.S. IPO in July despite being asked to put it on hold while a review of its data practices was conducted.
SHIFARA SAMSUDEEN, LIGHTSTREAM RESEARCH ANALYST, WHO PUBLISHES ON RESEARCH PLATFORM SMARTKARMA:
“As we expected, Didi will first delist its shares from the NYSE and start filing for listing on HKEX. The company is already facing class action lawsuit in the US, and we think Didi will buy back its shares at the same IPO price of US$14 per share. However, it may not be able to relist its shares in HK at the same price (rather at a lower price) given there will be stringent control by the state over its use of user’s personal data (which will place it at a disadvantage) and location related issues such as liquidity, etc.
“Beijing is also sending a warning to the entire internet sector in China to be ready to face more regulations and is likely to keep foreign investors away from Chinese tech stocks for some time.”
ZHAN KAI, LAWYER AT EAST & CONCORD PARTNERS, SHANGHAI:
“Technically speaking, Didi’s U.S listing was not compliant with Chinese data security regulations.
“From a political perspective, China and the U.S. have so far failed to reach an agreement on supervising…
