There was a time, not so long ago, when a New York Stock Exchange listing and full SEC registration were badges of honour for any emerging market company, indeed even for the largest developed world corporations seeking to re-rate their stock and distribute it broadly into the world’s largest capital market.
In the early 1990s, leading German companies unofficially clubbed together in an effort to face down the SEC over the onerous accounting standards and disclosure requirements that were a precondition for listing in the US. The SEC refused to compromise and the German companies blinked first. The prize...
