China's leading contract chipmaker SMIC announced its withdrawal from the OTCQX, the US over-the-counter market, and the termination of the ADR Level 1 program on January 31.
According to the announcement, the company was notified by OTC Markets Group, the operator of OTCQX, on January 29 that the company's ADRs were withdrawn from the OTCQX market prior to the commencement of trading on February 1, 2021.
The Tier 1 program for the company's ADRs has become less than 0.3% of the company's total issued share capital and participation in the program has become low, so the company has decided to terminate the program, the announcement said, adding that the program will terminate on March 4 in accordance with the terms of the depositary agreement relating to the program.
Following SMIC's delisting from the New York Stock Exchange in 2019, the company's ADR shares were traded on the OTCQX.
SMIC was notified by OTC Markets Group on January 6, 2021, that the company would be withdrawn from the OTCQX at the close of trading on January 6 in accordance with the Executive Order and related regulator guidance.
However, SMIC again said on January 9 that OTC Markets Group changed its position regarding the effective date of the Executive Order and allowed trading in the company's securities to continue until February 1.
SMIC said on December 20, 2020, that the U.S. Department of Commerce had placed SMIC and some of its subsidiaries and equity participants on the "entity list" for protecting US national security and diplomatic interests, which would "have a significant adverse impact on the development and capacity building of advanced processes at 10nm and below.
SMIC and its subsidiaries are mainly engaged in IC foundry and is one of the largest multinational IC manufacturing companies in mainland China.
In the first three quarters of 2020, SMIC's revenue was RMB 20.8 billion ($3.2 billion), up 30.2% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was RMB 3.08 billion, up 168.6% year-on-year.
SMIC says trading in its securities on US OTC market extended until Feb 1
