Quotes: Reaction to Didi Global's plans to delist from New York

DiDi Global

03/12/2021 04:12

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Following are reactions to ride-hailing
giant Didi Global's  DIDI.N  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.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2SO042

JUSTIN TANG, HEAD OF ASIAN RESEARCH AT UNITED FIRST PARTNERS,
SINGAPORE:
    "The listing of Didi was largely expected given the
crackdown post its IPO. It will now set a precedent for other
U.S. listed companies, especially those with data concerns.
    "The crackdown started with Ant's botched IPO. The Chinese
government has already shown that it will go beyond what the
market has expected. It will be a while before sentiments thaw
in relation to Chinese names."
    
KENNY NG, SECURITIES STRATEGIST, EVERBRIGHT SUN HUNG KAI, HONG
KONG:
    "Didi's plan to delist in the United States and the listing
of Hong Kong stocks I believe will have an obvious impact on
location decisions for large technology stocks' future listings.
 At the same time, this event makes the market believe that the
current industry supervision of technology stocks in the
mainland will continue, and the decline in the stock prices of
technology stocks listed in Hong Kong today also reflects this
factor.
    "On the other hand, Didi, the company itself, also has its
own unique factors. Because Didi's business has more data
related to customer information, which is leading the regulatory
authorities to pay it special attention."
    
MING LU, AEQUITAS RESEARCH ANALYST, SHANGHAI:
    "I think this change does not bring anything positive for
Didi's investors. The authorities have not announced a final
punishment on Didi and the investigation is still going on after
more than 100 days. So far, the risk for Didi and its
shareholders is still unlimited."
    
KYLE RODDA, IG ANALYST, MELBOURNE: 
    "In the short- to medium-term, this means volatility for
pockets of the market that are really exposed to global trade
and U.S.-China geopolitics specifically, and you might start to
see some pressure on Hong Kong stocks, which have tended to look
to raise capital in the United States but base themselves in
China and draw most of their profits from the Chinese economy.
    "Longer term this is more significant, because this is going
to be one of those frogs in a beaker scenarios where very, very
slowly there's going to be a decoupling between the U.S. and
China in terms of their economic relationship, as well as their
enmeshment with one another in the global financial system."

TOM NUNLIST, SENIOR ANALYST AT CONSULTANCY TRIVIUM CHINA,
BEIJING:
    "My two main thoughts at this point are: If confirmed that
CAC really is the main actor behind the push, then big flex for
the regulator. Would be a further indication of it's rising
power and influence.
    "The apparent issue is data security, but we still don't
have great insight into what the specific concern is. This is
the outstanding question."
        

 (Reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo, Alun John and Scott
Murdoch in Hong Kong, Anshuman Daga in Singapore, Josh Horwitz
in Shanghai; editing by Richard Pullin)
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Messaging: brenda.goh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))