Barron’s on PRC Companies Listed in the US
January 28th, 2008Barron’s reports that a US research firm has cast a skeptical eye on some corporate governance issues concerning recent Chinese listings in the US. One of the stocks mentioned is Giant Interactive, an online gaming company I blogged about at the time of its IPO last year.
Actually, what is most striking to me is that these companies chose to list in the US at all, subjecting themselves to our disclosure laws and the threat of shareholder lawsuits, rather than steering clear of US exchanges as so many foreign issuers have in this post-SOX world. Most of the largest IPOs out of China recently have been Hong Kong listings without a US tranche, unlike some of the earlier waves of PRC companies accessing foreign capital markets. As the Barron’s piece notes, the outfit offering this critique got its information from the public filings of these firms.
Shareholder governance is important, but did investors buy these stocks because they expected it would be good? Or because they thought China’s growth prospects made the risks acceptable?
June 4th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
[...] 8.Walter Hutchens’ Blog » Barron’s on PRC Companies Listed in the January 28th, 2008 … Barron’s reports that a US research firm has cast a skeptical eye on some corporate governance issues concerning recent Chinese listings in the US. One of the stocks mentioned is Giant Interactive, … Actually, what is most striking to me is that these companies chose to list in the US at all, [...]