Didi Global ’s search for an alternative home to its proposed exit from the New York Stock Exchange has hit a snag, as its plan for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong is on hold indefinitely, according to three people familiar with the matter. Didi has been notified that its relisting plan wouldn’t receive a green light until it makes sufficient “rectifications” in accordance with probes conducted by China’s cyberspace administration, sources said. The authority began investigating Didi’s business since it forced its way to a controversial US$4.4 billion IPO in New York almost a year ago, an act that was later described as a deliberate act of deceit . The setback puts Didi’s investors in a bind, as they prepare to vote on May 23 on the proposal by China’s dominant ride-hailing company to “voluntarily” delist from New York. Didi and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Didi’s shares have plunged as investors headed for the exit, declining 13.1 per cent on Friday to US$1.72 in New York. The stock has plunged 88 per cent since its listing, wiping out US$58 billion in value. Is China’s antitrust probe a detour or dead end for Didi’s New York IPO? The CAC’s investigation of Didi, ordered two days after the shares listed in New York, has yet to conclude, due to complications, a regulatory official said, declined to be named. Without clear instructions from Chinese regulators including the CAC, Didi cannot file its listing documentation to Hong Kong’s exchange, said an official familiar with the process. Didi’s Hong Kong IPO was “almost killed,” and the plan is unlikely to progress any time soon, according to a company source briefed on the internal discussions. Chinese regulators suspect Didi of deceit in US listing, sources say Didi made its surprise pivot last December through a one-line blog post on its social media platform, while its CAC investigation was ongoing. As many as 25 of Didi’s apps were scrubbed from app stores, and the company was ordered to stop registering new users. Regulatory officials also installed themselves in the company’s offices to oversee an overhaul of Didi’s data management, containing the personal information of hundreds of millions of customers and drivers. The fate of Didi is widely watched as it is the first case of China’s cybersecurity probe into a US-listed company. During the probe of Didi, China has tightened its screening of overseas IPOs by requiring a cybersecurity review for any company going public abroad with the data of at least one million Chinese customers. The probe of Didi has also cut off the flow of Chinese tech IPOs in New York. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which has been talking with the US to avoid Chinese tech firms from being kicked out of the US market, said earlier that the delisting of Didi won’t affect other listed Chinese tech companies. A government task force, including delegates from China’s Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security, entered Didi premises in mid-July to carry out an investigation, but the task force has not published any findings or conclusions after over nine months of behind-the-door probing. Didi’s top management, including chairman and CEO Will Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu Qing, have remained outside public view since the IPO. Didi’s 2021 net loss widened threefold to 49.3 billion yuan (US$7.7 billion). Its monthly active users (MAUs) fell 20 per cent last year to 80.7 million, from 2020, according to the market research firm QuestMobile. Its monthly orders declined to 29 per cent in March, from last June, while smaller rivals Cao Cao Mobility and T3 grew 34 per cent and 104 per cent respectively in the same period, according to data from the Ministry of Transport. Didi’s downfall provided the growth opportunity for Cao Cao, backed by China’s largest private carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings and T3, backed by state companies. Cao Cao and T3 had just 6.6 million and 11.5 million MAUs by the end of 2021, respectively, up by 65 per cent and 125 per cent from a year earlier, according to QuestMobile.