Allie Profile picture
25 Jul, 17 tweets, 4 min read
There are lots of debates on whether or not Chinese stocks are even "investable" after waves of news, crack downs and implementations of policies that have broadly affected Chinese ADRs listed in the US. I just want to offer a couple of points for your consideration:
1)Make no mistake that under the VIE structure, when you invest in, say $NIO, you are actually buying the shares of a Cayman Island registered holding company, a SPV - Special Purpose Vehicle, hence you don’t technically own any part of the actual underlying Chinese company
2)The VIE structure has two main problems: on one hand it says to the Chinese regulator that the company in question is wholly owned by Chinese nationals, while the same VIE simultaneously tells global shareholders that they legitimately own that Chinese company, which they don't
3)What's worse is that the VIE structure under Chinese law is actually illegal and global shareholders don’t have ownership of the actual Chinese company’s assets, so assets can be taken away without warning or compensation
4)VIE has remained ambiguous for more than 2 decades, with both Beijing and Wall Street kept silent on the subject matter. VIE can also be leveraged by US entities that want to acquire Chinese assets, but are either challenged by Chinese law or CFIUS oversight. It works both ways
5)So why big money managers like Vanguard and Blackrock continues to pour money into Chinese ADRs? Mainly because they are passive investors and by definition if there's a stock, they will buy it
6)For others, the adoption of US accounting rules GAAP and IFRS by US listed Chinese companies have made these companies appear to be legit
7)This is because when investors see the balance sheet and income statement of Alibaba $BABA, despite the fact that what they’re buying in essence is a Cayman-based shell company with no real assets and no legal claim to the assets or income streams of the actual #Alibaba Group
8)Of course there are investors that are unaware of the VIE structure, do not understand how it works or willingly ignore the risks associated with globally listed Chinese companies via the VIE structure. I myself fall into the 3rd category as I think many educated investors are
9)As $TAL tanks over 70% in Friday's trading session, one can't help but wonder how would Morgan Stanley, Baillie Gifford & BlackRock, the 2nd, 3rd, 5th largest shareholders of $TAL, manage the aftermath as $TAL reorg to become a non-profit. But no one could foresee all of this
10) By now you might have already formed some opinion. Then it's time to introduce FDI - foreign direct investment and China has long been a champion recipient of FDI. In fact, in January 2021, China has received $46.38 billion, 39.9% surge YoY
11)When you invest in Chinese ADRs listed in the US, although there's the extra layer of risks associated with the VIE structure, but at least you have liquidity from the world's most advanced capital market to get you in and out
12)When you pour money into actual Chinese businesses, in the case of Softbank's 20% ownership of $DIDI, that's a whole different story with the investor operating on a completely different level of projecting and managing risk/rewards
13)So far we know: global investors have enormous appetite for overseas listed Chinese ADRs despite the known risks associated with these companies just being Chinese companies; global investors also continued to directly invest in China via FDI
14)Lastly, the Chinese stock, bond and debt market had also attracted an unprecedented amount of investment while the #coronavirus pandemic swept through the globe
15)China has seen a 62% increase in overseas holdings of Chinese stocks from 2019 to $520 billion in 2020, a 47% fillip for the bond market to $509 billion. Foreign investors also bought another net $53.5 billion worth of Chinese debt in January and February of 2021
16)So in conclusion, China and its companies have been and remain to be attractive to global investors. If you are not Baillie Gifford that invested in $TAL yet also $NIO, you just need to know what kind of investor you are and answer to your very self of the decisions you make

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