Didi plunges 44pc on Hong Kong setback

Agencies and staff reporter

Didi Global plunged 44 percent on Friday after the company suspended preparations for its planned Hong Kong listing.

The decision came as the Cyberspace Administration of China informed executives of the ride-hailing giant that their proposals to prevent security and data leaks had fallen short of requirements, sources said.

The company and its bankers have halted work on the Hong Kong listing originally slated for around the summer of this year, the people said.

Didi’s American depositary shares posted their biggest decline since they started trading in the US last June, plummeting to US$1.89 (HK$14.74) in New York.

Shares in Yum China (9987) and four other Chinese companies tumbled on Friday after they were ensnared in an auditing dispute between Beijing and Washington, though China’s securities regulator said it was confident they could reach a deal.

Yum China, the owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants in China, said it may have to delist from the New York stock exchange by 2024 after US authorities said it had failed to provide access to audit documents.

Its Hong Kong-listed shares fell as much as 12 percent on Friday, having closed 11 percent lower in New York.

Washington is demanding complete access to the books of US-listed Chinese companies, but Beijing bars foreign inspection of working papers from local accounting firms.

Shares of other Chinese companies identified by the US Securities Exchange Commission, including BeiGene (6160), ACM Research, Zai Lab and Hutchmed (China) (0013), also tumbled on the news. In an attempt to ease investor panic, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday it was confident it would reach an agreement with US counterparts to solve the dispute.

Separately, Hong Kong’s first special purpose acquisition company Aquila, backed by state-owned China Merchants Bank (3968), has reportedly moved its trading debut forward to this Friday from March 22.