The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) rejected the appeals by the three main Chinese mobile carriers to a delisting related to a presidential order blocking U.S. investment in companies considered a national security threat.
The Chinese operators said their delisting will be effective 10 days after the NYSE files a request to delist the shares to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Last week, a NYSE committee ratified a previous decision to delist China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom’s American depositary receipts.
In a statement, China Mobile said it will continue to pay close attention to the development of “related matters and seek professional advice to protect the lawful rights of the company and its shareholders”.
In January, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom had called for the exchange to reverse the delistings and delay a suspension in trading of the shares while a review is conducted.
The New York Stock Exchange announced just before the end of 2020 that it had begun proceedings to delist China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom’s shares from the stock market.
The move followed an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump on November 12, prohibiting any U.S. companies or people from investing in companies with ties to the Chinese military.
The NYSE had halted trading for these securities on January 11. The U.S. Department of Defense had previously stated that the three Chinese operators had significant connections to Chinese military and security forces.
In January, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) had said that the decision by the NYSE will not have an impact in these three companies’ businesses, as the size of companies’ American Deposit Receipt (ADR) listings remains less than 2.2% of their total equity, with a market capitalization of less than CNY20 billion ($3.11 billion).
“The liquidity, trading volume and fund-raising functions of the ADRs have been relatively low, therefore the direct impact of a potential delisting would be rather limited,” CSRC said.
