Chinese state-controlled oil giants Sinopec and PetroChina said on Friday that they intended to delist from the New York Stock Exchange, along with two other state-held firms.
The announcement for the delisting of the shares or the American Depositary Shares (ADSs) from the NYSE comes amid protracted talks between China and U.S. regulators about audit rules, as well as heightened U.S.-China tensions after the visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last week.
Apart from Sinopec and PetroChina, the other firms that had notified the NYSE of their intentions to delist were China Life Insurance and Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco).
PetroChina said in its release that it had notified the NYSE today of its decision and would file with the SEC on or about August 29 a form to delist its ADSs from the NYSE. Among the many business reasons for seeking delisting of its ADSs, PetroChina cited "the considerable administrative burden for performing the disclosure obligations as necessary for maintaining the listing of the ADSs on the NYSE as a result of the differences in the regulatory rules of multiple listing venues."
PetroChina will keep its listings on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, the company said, as did the other three Chinese firms seeking delisting from New York.
Commenting on the plans for delisting, an official at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said:
"According to these companies' announcements, they have strictly observed relevant U.S. rules and regulations since listed on the U.S. markets, and the delisting decisions are made out of their business considerations."
"These companies are listed on multiple markets, and only a small portion of their securities are traded in the U.S. markets. The delisting plan will not jeopardize these companies' fund-raising ability through domestic and overseas capital markets," the official added.
The Chinese securities commission will continue to communicate and cooperate with relevant overseas regulators "to jointly protect the legitimate rights and interests of issuers and investors," the commission's official noted.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More