Exclusive | China wants local investors to have a share of the success of its US-listed tech giants
Sources tell the South China Morning Post that the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges are drafting detailed rules to enable domestic investors to be able to buy shares in firms like Alibaba
China’s market regulator is looking into ways to enable domestic investors to trade shares in US-listed Chinese tech firms, as the country looks to spread the benefits of the global success of companies such as Alibaba Group Holding.
Sources close to the market regulator told the South China Morning Post that the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges are drafting detailed rules, and that trading of US-listed Chinese tech firms could begin on domestic bourses as soon as this year.
They said the trigger was growing unease in top government circles about the number of top companies listing outside China.
“China’s top leaders are concerned that China’s best tech companies are all listed in the US or Hong Kong, and has urged the securities regulator to produce a plan to solve the problem,” one of the sources said.
“The idea had been raised a while ago, but discussions and preparation have been accelerated after Xiaomi decided to go public in Hong Kong,” the source said.
Xiaomi, China’s leading smartphone manufacturer, is poised for an IPO in Hong Kong that would value it at up to US$100 billion and would be the world’s biggest tech listing 2018.
