The source of this article: Times Finance Author: Zhang Xu
Ideal Cars, a new force for car-making, has been a bit annoying lately.
On April 21, local time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) added 17 companies, including Ideal Automobile, Best Group and Shell, to the "pre-delisting list", which is the fifth batch of Chinese stock companies to be included in the list since March.
Ideal ONE, picture from ideal car official website
According to the SEC, the deadline for the 17 companies to submit their defenses is May 12, local time. At the same time, due to the deadline for the defense, the third batch of five companies included in the list have entered the "confirmed delisting list" from the "pre-delisting list", involving iQiyi, Baidu and so on.
After the SEC added the ideal car to the list on the 21st, as of the close of the day, the ideal car fell 4.34% to close at $22.47 / share. It is worth noting that although Xiaopeng Automobile and Weilai, which are also listed on the US stock market, were not included in the list, the US stock prices fell by 4.14% and 5.51% respectively on the same day.
In fact, since 2022, the overall stock price of "Wei Xiaoli" US stock price has shown a downward trend, and the cumulative decline in the stock price year-to-date has exceeded 30%.
At the Boao Forum on April 21, Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that the serious decline in Chinese stocks recently was importantly due to sino-US audit and regulatory cooperation negotiations. Fang Xinghai revealed that there is good news that since the new chairman of the US Securities and Futures Commission last year, the negotiation team of the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the US side have progressed smoothly, and it is believed that a cooperation agreement will be reached in the near future.
On April 21, the U.S. stock of Ideal Auto fell 4.34%, closing at $22.47.
For being included in the "pre-delisting list", Ideal Auto responded to Times Finance, saying, "All US-listed Chinese stocks will be included in this list after the release of their annual reports." Inclusion is not the same as delisting in the United States, and under the relevant regulations, companies will only be restricted from trading in U.S. stocks if they do not open the audit draft to the United States for three consecutive years. ”
A few days ago, the head of the International Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission publicly stated that for some enterprises to be included in the SEC list with the risk of delisting, after learning from the US SEC, this is a normal procedure for the US regulatory authorities to implement the "Foreign Company Accountability Law", and whether the listed companies will really delist in the next two years ultimately depends on the progress and results of Sino-US audit and regulatory cooperation.
In the industry's view, ideal cars are included in the list and will not have a significant impact on the company in the short term. According to the SEC official website document, companies on the "Definitive Delisting List" are required to file documents required by the SEC within three years (counting from the disclosure of the first annual report and considering 2021 as the first year). If companies on the "Confirmed Delisting List" do not submit or file documents that do not meet SEC requirements, they will face delisting after disclosing their 2023 annual reports (early 2024).
Some legal insiders told Times Finance that "Chinese stocks need to provide audit papers to the US SEC, but this is in conflict with the relevant regulations of the China Securities Regulatory Commission." Previously, the SEC had a provisional framework agreement between the SEC and the U.S. required a special application to obtain documents. Now things have changed, and under the Foreign Companies Accountability Act, the U.S. SEC has to give it if it wants to investigate. If it is not offered within three years, it will encounter pre-delisting. ”
The person further said that as to whether the audit papers can be provided, Ideal Automobile needs to communicate with the Chinese government. If you don't plan to list in the United States, you need to return to Hong Kong stocks or A shares. At present, many companies are returning, and although some investors will have some losses, ideal cars may think that these losses will not be large.
Ideal Auto also said that it has been actively looking for solutions, and told Times Finance, "On the one hand, it has completed the main listing in Hong Kong last year, the shares of the two places can be exchanged, us stock investors can be converted to Hold in Hong Kong at any time, and the listing status of the main listing in Hong Kong will not be affected by the relevant supervision of the US stock market; on the other hand, it is also actively cooperating with the work related to the audit working papers according to domestic and foreign regulatory requirements." The above will not have any impact on the actual business operations of the company. ”
In addition to the ideal car, Weilai and Xiaopeng Automobile have successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange before. On March 10 this year, NIO was listed on hong Kong stocks by introducing listing, without involving new share issuance and fundraising. As for the reasons for the listing, NIO said at the time, "This provides investors with alternative trading venues, mitigates geopolitical risks, expands the investor base, and the purpose of these listings can still be achieved without diluting the interests of existing shareholders." ”