Because of concerns regarding leakage of sensitive data, the report said the Cyberspace Administration of China wants DiDi to work out the details for a delisting subject to government approval. According to the same information, DiDi could either go for privatization or a listing in Hong Kong following the delisting. In case of privatization, DiDi will be priced at $14/share, and a Hong Kong float would likely be at a discount to what its shares were trading at in the US.
A state-directed delisting would mark an unprecedented move highlighting Beijing’s crackdown on giant tech companies and put them under tighter regulation. DiDi is targeted in this situation because, shortly after its US listing, regulators opened a cybersecurity review into the company. DiDi caught regulators’ eyes after pushing ahead with the IPO even though it didn’t resolve the outstanding cybersecurity issues that authorities wanted to solve.
At the moment of writing, during pre-market trading, DiDi stock price was trading 6.04% lower.
Sources: Bloomberg.com, cnbc.com, finance.yahoo.com
