NYSE will no longer delist the ADRs of China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom “in light of further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities”.
4 Jan 2021 – NYSE has announced it will no longer be delisting China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom.
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) on 31 December 2020 said it was commencing proceedings to delist the ADRs of China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom to comply with Executive Order 13959.
Executive Order 13959, issued in November, prohibits US persons from purchasing securities of companies identified to be supplying or otherwise supporting the Chinese military.
The Order has also forced index providers including MSCI, FTSE Russell, Nasdaq and S&P Global Dow Jones Indices to remove several Chinese companies from their indexes.
> ALSO READ: OFAC Extends Chinese Military Company Ban to Subsidiaries (3 Jan 2021)
NYSE said it would suspend trading in the three stocks between 7 January and 11 January 2021, and that the companies had the right to review the decision.
In response, China vowed to take “necessary measures” to protect its companies. “This kind of abuse of national security and state power to suppress Chinese firms does not comply with market rules and violates market logic,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said.
“It not only harms the legal rights of Chinese companies but also damages the interests of investors in other countries, including the United States.”
The ADRs of the three companies total under CNY 20 billion (USD 3.1 billion) and account for at most 2.2 percent of the total shares each, the CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) said, indicating the impact will be “limited”.
“The recent move by some political forces in the US to continuously and groundlessly suppress foreign companies listed on the US markets, even at the cost of undermining its own position in the global capital markets, has demonstrated that US rules and institutions can become arbitrary, reckless and unpredictable,” the regulator added.
On 4 Jan 2021, NYSE said it will no longer be delisting China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, “in light of further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities”.
“At this time, the Issuers will continue to be listed and traded on the NYSE,” the statement said. “NYSE Regulation will continue to evaluate the applicability of Executive Order 13959 to these Issuers and their continued listing status.”
China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom also maintain listings in Hong Kong.
