China’s plan to lure homegrown tech unicorns such as Alibaba and Baidu on to domestic capital markets has been hit by a bearish mainland stock market and concerns by investors and issuers over a government-enforced cap on share prices.
China’s cabinet formally approved a framework in March to allow to foreign-listed companies in strategic industries to bypass rules governing mainland initial public offerings, including bans on exotic structures such as dual-class shares and variable-interest entities.
Such prohibitions helped push Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com away from the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses to New York, sparking embarrassment and soul-searching in Beijing and prompting the listing mechanism known as China depository receipts (CDRs).