Chinese firms continue US IPOs despite trade dispute

The U.S.-China trade dispute has done little to scare off Chinese
companies listing on American stock exchanges.

2018 isn't far off a record year for Chinese IPOs, nearing the
previous high of 39 U.S. listings in 2010.

And there are predictions that 2019 could be even stronger.

Nick Harper in New York looks back on the bumper year for Chinese listings.

IN: "The biggest...."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 1:59

AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-fm4.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-gen.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-von.mp3
938LIVE: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-938.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-ziz.mp3
SABC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1217ipos-nh-sabc.mp3

- upsot applause -
TAKE VO
The biggest Chinese company to go public stateside in 2018 was video
streaming company iQiyi in March.
Followed by social shopping app Pinduoduo in July.

- upsot music -

TAKE VO
And music streaming site Tencent Music made some noise with its
December initial public offering.
But they're just some of dozens Chinese companies that have gone
public in the U.S. in 2018.
Boustead Securities helps lower-middle market companies and is
completing four Chinese IPOs in December alone.

SOT - Daniel McClory, Boustead Securities, Managing Director:
"China has an export that very few people have sat up and noticed and
that's their IPOs. China is leading the world in exporting its IPOs."

TAKE VO
And McClory believes that growth is set to continue.

SOT - Daniel McClory, Boustead Securities, Managing Director:
"It's literally doubled year over year. And the pipeline for 2019 is
also incredible. There's already 40 companies in that pipeline and
we've got about 25% market share of that pipeline."

TAKE VO
U.S.-China trade tensions persist but with Chinese investors
continuing to back IPOs on the world's two largest exchanges, the New
York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, there appears to be little
slowdown in Chinese companies looking to list.

TAKE VO
For U.S. firms, 2019 could be the year of the unicorn - startups that
have reached the maturity of a $1 billion dollar valuation. Leading
the pack, Uber and Lyft are racing to see who can list first.

SOT: Max Wolff, The Phoenix Group, Chief Economist
"The markets will have a certain amount of appetite for say a
ride-hailing app and if you're second then a bunch of that appetite
has been satiated already in the market."

TAKE VO
Pinterest and Airbnb may also open their doors to the public next
year. And with more Chinese companies lined up for U.S. listings,
records could be broken.
SOC