Greenberg: China Stock Action Heats Up

I’m thinking we should start calling this, “China Stocks Today.” The events surrounding Chinese stocks, mostly reverse mergers, are moving so quickly it’s hard to keep track of them.

Just today (and I’m sure I’m missing something):

—China Integrated Energy said it will issue a letter to refute critical research about its firm. In the meantime, to counter the recent near-halving of its stock, the company said its board had authorized a $20 million share repurchase.

—The New York Stock Exchange halted trading in China Dragon Media , a reverse merger that only last month issued shares to allow it to trade. According to the NYSE: “NYSE Regulation is evaluating both the need for certain public disclosure, as well as the overall suitability for continued listing of the Company’s common stock. In this regard, NYSE Regulation is in the process of requesting additional information from the Company which is necessary for such assessment.”

—China MediaExpress , whose shares have been halted for more than a week after its auditor and CFO quit, said it will file a plan of compliance regarding its recently delayed 10-K by or before the March 31 deadline. On Friday Starr Investments, a unit of C.V. Starr — China MediaExpress’s largest investor — sued the company, alleging fraud.

—The SEC suspended trading in Helix Electronics, a Bulletin Board-traded reverse merger, citing a variety of issues, including “the accuracy and completeness of information” in its public filings.

—Shares of Deer Consumer Products , a reverse merger, tumbled around 20% out of the blue today. It's unclear what caused the cliff jumping, but a blogger with a history of raising red flags over Chinese companies did issue this today.

—And if you missed it, OLP Global, a research firm perhaps best know for its take down of Rino International , has been sparring with ChinaCast Education , with a critical review last Thursday of ChinaCast’s 10-K. (Click here to read it.) The two sides have been sniping for several weeks, with ChinaCast responding on March 2 to questions posed by OLP. Last week ChinaCast’s board authorized a $50 million stock buyback.

My take: The trend is not China reverse mergers' friend.

Questions? Comments? Write to HerbOnTheStreet@cnbc.com

Follow Herb on Twitter: @herbgreenberg

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