By Jing Yang
HONG KONG -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will pursue a primary listing of its stock in Hong Kong, hedging its bets as regulatory pressure on Chinese companies grows on both sides of the Pacific.
The move comes as Beijing and Washington remain at loggerheads over the audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.
More than 250 Chinese companies including Alibaba face mass delistings from the U.S. if the two countries cannot reach a deal for U.S. regulators to inspect the audit papers of Chinese firms.
The new primary listing, which Alibaba expects to complete by the end of this year, also will pave the way for Alibaba's inclusion in Hong Kong's Stock Connect trading link with mainland China, making its stocks accessible to investors there.
The Chinese e-commerce giant listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and obtained a secondary listing in Hong Kong in 2019. The Hong Kong listing is contingent on the listing status in New York and the shares traded in the two markets are fully fungible. Investors can choose to hold Alibaba shares in either market.
Still, trading in Alibaba shares continues to gravitate toward New York. In the six months ended June 30, Alibaba's average daily trading volume in Hong Kong was approximately $700 million, compared with about $3.2 billion in the U.S.
Write to Jing Yang at Jing.Yang@wsj.com
$(END)$ Dow Jones Newswires
July 25, 2022 20:16 ET (00:16 GMT)
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