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The trade war didn’t seem to discourage Chinese companies from listing their shares on American exchanges last year. In fact, it might have brought more Chinese companies to Wall Street.

Tencent Music’s trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange in December capped a wave of Chinese companies going public in the United States. In total, 33 Chinese firms raised $9.2 billion through initial public offerings on American exchanges — up 140 percent from 2017 and the highest level since 2014, according to Dealogic.

Of course, 2014 comes with an asterisk of sorts. Alibaba went public in September that year, raising $25 billion. Subtract the value of Alibaba’s offering and Chinese firms raised just $3 billion that year.

Last year, however, offerings from Chinese firms dominated the United States market for initial public offerings. The three largest I.P.O.s by market value were Chinese companies. And Chinese firms accounted for four of the 10 largest such offerings in 2018 ranked by amount raised on American exchanges, the most of any country, including the United States, according to Dealogic.

Why list in America?

American exchanges offer prestige and a broader investor base that Chinese entrepreneurs can find attractive. The United States also offers a quicker route to the public markets. While Chinese regulators have taken steps to reduce the long wait, it still takes 18 months or longer for shares to begin trading from the time a company files to go public. That compares with just 42 days to list in the United States, according to Dealogic.

But the trade war may also have been a factor.

A slowing Chinese economy and escalating trade tensions dragged down markets in Hong Kong and China before stocks in the United States turned seriously wobbly. At their lows in late October, the Hang Seng stock index and the benchmark stock indexes in Shenzhen and Shanghai were down 15 percent to 35 percent for the year. By comparison, the S & P 500 was still up 2.5 percent at that point, making it far more attractive for offerings.

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