China’s cyberspace regulator lays out two main conditions for companies wanting to go public

Chinese companies wanting to go public — including overseas — must comply with two main aspects of a wider set of regulations, the vice minister for the country’s cybersecurity regulator said Tuesday. One is the national laws and regulations, Cyberspace Administration of China vice minister Sheng Ronghua said. The other is ensuring the security of the national network, “critical information infrastructure” and personal data.

The comments on the importance of these two rules in particular come as policy uncertainty this summer has essentially halted Chinese listings in the U.S., after a surge in overseas offerings earlier this year.

The remarks also come from the Cyberspace Administration of China, which has grown its clout in recent months. It ordered app stores to remove Chinese ride-hailing app Didi just days after its massive U.S. IPO in late June. The regulator also told subsidiaries of two other Chinese companies that recently listed in the U.S. to suspend new user registrations while undergoing a probe to “prevent national data security risks.”

In late July, a source familiar with the matter said China Securities Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Fang Xinghai told major investment banks that Chinese companies can still go public in the U.S. using the commonly used legal structure known as the variable interest entity structure — barring national security concerns.

China’s cyberspace regulator lays out two main conditions for companies wanting to go public, CNBC, Aug 25