Didi denies reports that the city of Beijing is coordinating companies to invest in them

BEIJING, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Chinese giant Didi Global Inc. (DIDI.N) said on Saturday that the media reported that the Beijing city government is coordinating companies to invest in them is not right.

“Currently, Didi is actively and fully collaborating with the cybersecurity probe, according to the foreign media that the Beijing city government is coordinating companies to invest in it is wrong,” he told Weibo.

Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, that the Chinese capital was considering taking Didi under state control and had proposed that government companies invest in it. Read more

According to the preliminary proposal, some Beijing-based companies, including the Shouqi Group, which is part of the state-owned Beijing Tourism Group, would acquire a stake in Didi, Bloomberg reported.

Didi, based in Beijing, is facing a cybersecurity investigation by Chinese authorities following its first public offering in New York in June. Chinese authorities have intensified their regulation of technology companies over the past year to improve market competition, data processing and employee processing. Read more

Didi is controlled by the management team of co-founder Will Cheng and President Jean Liu. SoftBank Group Corp. (9984.T), Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER.N) and Alibaba (9988.HK) are among the company’s investors.

Report by Yilei Sun and David Stanway; Edited by William Mallard

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