China’s ride-hailing firm Didi to switch listing from New York to Hong Kong

The Chinese ride-hailing steadfast Didi is to determination its listing from the New York banal speech to Hong Kong, arsenic Beijing cracks down connected the country’s biggest exertion companies.

The institution said it would commencement “immediate” preparations to delist successful New York and hole to spell nationalist successful Hong Kong.

“After a cautious study, the institution volition commencement delisting connected the New York banal speech immediately, and commencement preparations for listing successful Hong Kong,” the institution posted connected its Weibo relationship connected Friday, a Twitter-like work successful China.

It comes little than six months aft Didi made its $4.4bn (£3.3bn) flotation successful New York, making it the biggest listing by a Chinese institution successful the US since Alibaba successful 2014, lone to spot investors sharply merchantability disconnected shares days aboriginal arsenic China’s net regulator ordered its ride-hailing app to be taken disconnected home app stores.

It was besides banned from signing up caller users, and subjected to a “cybersecurity review”, arsenic Beijing flexed its musculus to curtail Didi’s planetary enlargement plans. In August, Didi suspended plans to motorboat successful Europe and the UK, wherever it had secured licences to run successful Manchester, Salford and Sheffield.

Didi, which is truthful ascendant successful its location marketplace that Uber pulled retired of China successful 2016 successful speech for a stake, said its committee had authorised the institution to guarantee its shares “will beryllium convertible into freely tradeable shares of the institution connected different internationally recognised banal exchange”.

Didi’s delisting is the latest improvement successful a long-running crackdown connected the rising powerfulness of China’s tech companies by Beijing.

Last year, regulators stepped successful astatine the past infinitesimal to artifact the $34bn flotation of Jack Ma’s Ant Group, which would person been the biggest ever firm fundraising.

In April, Ma’s Alibaba paid a record $2.8bn fine to settee an probe by Chinese regulators into anticompetitive practices astatine the e-commerce company.

Authorities began to focus connected businesses owned by Ma, 1 of China’s astir popular, outspoken and wealthiest entrepreneurs, aft helium gave a blunt code past twelvemonth criticising nationalist regulators, which reportedly infuriated the president, Xi Jinping.