Nasdaq executive dismisses ‘discredited’ Steve Bannon’s call to bar Chinese companies from US capital markets
- Bob McCooey, a senior VP at the New York-based exchange, said he looked forward to welcoming more Chinese IPOs in a post on WeChat
- Bannon had told the Post he would dedicate his time to shutting Chinese companies out of US capital markets
A senior vice-president at New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange has dismissed comments by Steve Bannon calling for Chinese companies to be excluded from US markets, describing the former White House adviser as “discredited”.
In a post on Chinese messaging service WeChat on Thursday, Bob McCooey said: “Like many of you, I have seen the comments by President Trump’s FORMER and discredited adviser Steve Bannon. I do not believe these words to have any truth.
“With 22 IPOs from China in 2018 and 15 already this year, we look forward to welcoming many Chinese companies to Nasdaq and supporting them as members of out family of global leaders.”
There are currently 92 Chinese companies trading on the Nasdaq, including search engine Baidu, China’s largest online travel agency Ctrip.com, and online retail giant JD.com.
A total of 34 Chinese firms launched initial public offerings in the US last year, raising US$8.6 billion.
On Friday China’s self-declared Starbucks challenger, Luckin Coffee, raised around US$561 million in its IPO. With a market value of US$4.2 billion, it marked the biggest US float by a Chinese firm this year. The stock surged by more than 50 per cent on its first trading day, before falling this week.