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Chinese listings in US to slow down

Updated: 2011-07-26 14:39

By Meng Jing (Chinadaily.com.cn)

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BEIJING – The pace of Chinese listings in the US markets is likely to slow down amid alleged accounting scandals and widespread concerns about dotcom bubbles, analysts said.

The frenzy of going public in US is over due to the credibility crisis of US listed companies, said ChinaVenture Group, a research and consulting institute providing investment advisory service.

"Companies, which have plans to list their shares in the US market, will have to think twice before they make the move. For those that have already filed IPO, wait for the right timing is a wise choice," said Li Weidong, chief analyst with ChinaVenture Group.

Two Chinese companies, which were scheduled to list in the US, have recently postponed IPOs, citing poor market outlook.

Shenzhen-based Xunlei Ltd, a Chinese online video site, announced it will indefinitely postpone its IPO on the Nasdaq, which was previously scheduled on July 21.

Wang Shannan, vice-president of Xunlei, said in a recent interview that the postponement is due to  poor stock market conditions.

E-book firm Cloudary Corp, previously called Shanda Literature, will also postpone its US fundraising plans due to poor market conditions, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, reported. Cloudary Corp originally planned to start IPO on July 29.

Concerns that US investors may give cold shoulders to the debut of China concept stocks are the main reason for the two companies to halt their IPO.

Xunlei, which booked $47 million in sales over the last 12 months, planned to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol XNET and has JPMorgan and Deutsche Securities as the lead underwriters on the deal.

The company hoped to raise $106 million by offering 7.6 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) in a price range between $12 and $14, which was reduced from the original $14 to $16.

"The halt of IPO aims to secure enough investors and a favorable IPO result, which is unlikely under the current circumstance, especially after a series of accounting scandals that badly hit China concept shares, " said Liang Jian, editor of iMeigu.com, a Chinese-language website that covers US-listed stocks.

Investors and regulators in the US are increasingly concerned about listed companies from China after some of them were charged with fraud and accounting mismanagement.

Though no issues have been raised on Xunlei or Cloudary, Chinese companies listed in the United States have seen their shares hit across the board by concerns over accounting fraud at some firms.

In recent months, shares of several US-listed Chinese companies, including Longtop and Sino-Forest, have been hammered after research firms and short sellers such as Citron and Muddy Waters issued reports making allegations of potential accounting frauds.

More than 20 Chinese companies have been forced to delist or suspended trading in US stock market amid widespread allegations of fraud since March, including the most recent delisting of Longtop Financial Technologies announced by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 22.

Interactive Brokers Group Inc, a US brokerage, has banned its customers from using borrowed money to buy shares in more than 130 Chinese companies amid mounting fears of accounting irregularities in such firms listed in the United States in early June.

Most of the blacklisted companies are China-related small and medium-sized enterprises and Internet companies, including Mecox Lane, Sina and Dangdang.

Moreover, an increasing number of Chinese Internet companies that go public in the US have raised concerns over dotcom bubbles in China, which worsen the climate for the IPO of Xunlei and Cloudary Corp, Liang said.

Chinese social network company Renren traded at nearly 80 times annualized sales in 2010 when it went public in May, but that’s a record can only be achieved last year with fewer options on Chinese Internet firms.

According to statistics from New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a total of 10 Chinese companies launched IPOs in the US market and raised $1.9 billion in the first six months of this year, up 225 percent from the same period a year ago.

Eight of the 10 companies belong to the technology, media and telecommunications industry.

With Zynga, a leading social network game developer, and Groupon, a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates, on their way to IPO, investors in the US have better local options instead of taking risks to buy shares of Chinese companies, Liang said.

Neither Xunlei nor Cloudary Corp has revealed the exact date to restart their IPO, but the earliest time may not arrive until September, said Li Weidong from the ChinaVenture Group.

"Most of the investment bankers are having holiday leaves during summer. IPOs in July and August can hardly get warm welcome," Li said.

 

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