Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings said it might delist from the New York Stock Exchange, a month after its largest shareholders failed to take the firm private because of a veto by the United States government.
However, even if the company was not listed in the US, it would still need State Department approval for the change of ownership, said AsiaSat deputy chief executive William Wade.
'Like many other governments, the US always worries about transfers of technology from one approved company to another, so they just want us to remain a public company,' Mr Wade said.
AsiaSat last month said a joint buyout offer by US-based GE Capital Equity Investments, a unit of General Electric, and the mainland's Citic Group was blocked by the State Department.
It declined to specify its objections, except to say that its practice in such cases was simply to issue advice on the likelihood that a company such as AsiaSat would continue to be able to receive US exports of high-technology equipment and services following the completion of the deal.
Analysts said the State Department's disapproval was due to national security reasons, as state-owned Citic would have a 50 per cent stake in AsiaSat following privatisation.
Since the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, the US has banned exports of military equipment to the mainland. However, it has allowed satellite-related equipment and services to be exported to companies such as AsiaSat on the grounds that the transactions are deemed to be in America's national interest.