The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said the delisting of China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom will have limited impact on the companies' growth, labelling the move as politically motivated stemming from the US administration.
In a statement, the commission said the delisting of the operators was an “executive order of the U.S. administration” based on allegations the firms are connected to the Chinese military.
“The executive order, which is based on political purposes, have entirely ignored the actual situations of relevant companies and the legitimate rights of the global investors, and severely damaged market rule and order”.
The regulator added the three companies’ American Deposit Shares (ADS) “remains small” at less than 2.2% of their total respective equity shares, with a total market capitalisation of less than RMB20 billion ($3.09 billion).
“The liquidity, trading volume and fund-raising functions of the ADRs have been relatively low, therefore the direct impact of a potential delisting would be rather limited on the companies’ growth and general market performance”, said the CSRC.
“We firmly support the three companies to safeguard their legitimate rights according to law, and believe they are able to properly handle any negative impact caused by the executive order and potential delisting.”
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced it will delist the three operators by January 11, after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to cease US investments into companies viewed as in cohesion with the Chinese military.
