Major New York-listed Chinese tech stocks are dropping plans to also list their shares in Hong Kong, signaling the companies no longer feel the need to hedge against future regulatory conflicts between the U.S. and China.
Nasdaq-listed e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, which has a market capitalization of $100 billion, has put discussions about a possible Hong Kong listing on hold, said a person with knowledge of the matter. And Full Truck Alliance, a $9-billion valuation Chinese commercial freight company whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, earlier this month scrapped a longtime plan to list shares in Hong Kong as soon as January, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Neither company had publicly disclosed such plans.
The Chinese companies’ decision to stick with New York as their sole listing location came shortly after Washington officials said two weeks ago that Beijing had finally enabled U.S. regulators to gain full access to the audits of Chinese stocks. Beijing’s concession underscores how much China and its businesses need the U.S. stock market even at a time when the two countries are moving away from each other in key areas of technology such as semiconductors.