What You Need to Know
- The SEC has begun to issue new reporting requirements for Chinese companies that want to list on U.S. exchanges.
- SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has asked for a pause on Chinese IPOs in the U.S.
- He has said investing in a U.S.-listed Chinese stock is likely investing in a shell company based in the Cayman Islands.
The Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be implementing the pause on Chinese company IPOs that its chairman, Gary Gensler, asked for last month.
The commission has begun to issue new reporting requirements for Chinese companies that want to list on U.S. exchanges, according to Reuters.
The agency is asking Chinese companies for details about the offshore vehicles they use to list in the U.S., including disclosure about whether investors in those IPOs will ever directly hold shares in the Chinese operating company.
In Gensler’s “Office Hours” video presentation Aug. 16, the SEC chairman cautioned investors about investing in Chinese companies, noting that they are more likely to be investing in a shell companies in the Cayman Islands or another part of the world than in Chinese companies directly, because China’s government does not allow direct ownership investment from people outside of China in many Chinese companies, especially tech companies.