In the space of three days, Wuxi Lead was approved to issue ADRs in Switzerland and Leadmicro had a big IPO in Shanghai. The two companies are run by a father and his son, and their contrasting experiences illustrate how a new generation of family business leaders is emerging in China.
Bescient Technologies produces automated systems for monitoring water quality, and its IPO application has just been approved.
Chinese AI giant SenseTime postponed a planned $767 million IPO in Hong Kong after a U.S. Treasury Department blacklisting. It was the second round of U.S. sanctions placed on the company, after it was accused in 2019 of developing facial recognition software targeting Uyghurs.
In June, the ridesharing firm that ate Uber alive in China went public in the United States. Now China has decided to eat it alive. Didi's delisting is no big surprise — but the risk of U.S.-China financial decoupling and a mass exodus of over 250 Chinese ADRs has never been greater.
A legal workaround that has allowed Chinese companies in restricted industries to raise capital abroad, primarily in the U.S., looks set to end.
Updated October 26: The China Project's tracker of all of China's different crackdowns — now affecting 19 different industries or interest groups.
The Chinese government’s recent moves to rein in Didi and whip the tech industry into line have been a decade in the making.
Chinese cybersecurity regulators launched investigations of three companies that had recently listed in the U.S., hinting at concerns that their data could fall into foreign hands. Beijing also said that it would “consolidate the information security responsibilities of overseas listed companies.”
Second hand isn’t so cheap any more, at least not if you’re investing in Chinese platforms for trading in used goods of all kinds. Aihuishou, which focuses on connecting buyers and sellers of used mobile phones and computers, just IPO’d in New York giving the company a value of $3.5 billion.
Didi Chuxing, the home-grown car-hailing company that ate Uber alive in China, is planning what could be the world’s biggest ever share sale.