Chinese companies are increasingly looking to the Hong Kong Exchanges as the threat of delisting from the NYSE grows.
Amid growing tensions between the US and China, US regulators are more aggressively scrutinizing Chinese companies. More than 100 companies have been put on the 2020 Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) list, opening the door to their eventual removal from the NYSE if they fail to become compliant.
According to Business Insider, Kingsoft Cloud Holdings is the latest Chinese company looking to the Hong Kong Exchanges after being placed on the HFCAA list. The company, and others like it, see Hong Kong as a way to stay out of the US-China fray.
At the same time, moving to Hong Kong doesn’t automatically fix a company’s underlying issues. As Insider points out, Kingsoft has a number of challenges, including a tech crackdown by China, being reliant on too few large customers, and being a small player in the larger Chinese cloud market.
For companies with good financials and a solid business plan, however, Hong Kong may end up being the safe haven they’re looking for.