Five Chinese state-owned companies announce they are leaving the NYSE

Five Chinese state-owned companies, including oil giant Sinopec, have announced the withdrawal of their securities, American depositary shares, from the New York Stock Exchange. According to Reutersin their individual statements, the Chinese companies said they would apply for a “voluntary delisting” this month and have already notified the NYSE of their plans.

Along with Sinopec, the five include China Life Insurance, aluminum producer Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco), oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical. As the China Securities Regulatory Authority said in a statement, “Since listing their securities in the US, these companies have strictly followed the rules and regulations of the US stock market and have chosen to delist for their own business reasons.” After leaving the NYSE, their shares will continue to be listed on the stock markets of mainland China and Hong Kong. When reporting on the upcoming delisting, the companies cited the extremely low trading volume of their securities on the NYSE and the very high administrative and financial costs to maintain their listing.

In May, these companies were included by US regulators in the list of foreign companies that do not comply with external audit requirements, as required by law, accepted in the US in December 2020. Previously, in accordance with this law, the NYSE has already conducted delisting securities of such Chinese companies as China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and some others. Alibaba Group Holdings, JD Com, Baidu and more than 260 other Chinese companies are now on the list of companies not meeting external audit requirements, Reuters reports.

Alena Miklashevskaya