Didi Denies Plans For Rapid Privatisation

Ride-hailing company Didi Global on Thursday denied a media report that the company was considering going private to placate Beijing authorities and compensate investor losses since it listed in the United States.

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the company has been mulling delisting plans as a crackdown on the mainland widens and it has received support from cybersecurity regulators.

Didi, which listed in New York last month after raising US$4.4 billion in an initial public offering (IPO), said in a statement that the WSJ report was not true.

"The company affirms that the above information is not true," it said, in reference to the report. "The company is fully cooperating with the relevant government authorities in China in the cybersecurity review of the company."

Shares in Didi, which jumped as much as 40 percent to US$12.42 in premarket trading after the WSJ report, pared gains after trading opened on Wall Street. Didi was trading around US$10 a share, down 28 percent from its listing on June 30.

Days after Didi's market debut, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) launched an investigation into the company and asked it to stop registering new users, citing national security and the public interest.

The regulator also said it would remove the mobile apps operated by Didi from app stores.

Didi's listing was the biggest stock sale by a Chinese company since the 2014 listing of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba. (Reuters)