The CSE buyers group included Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group Co. and a consortium of US based investors after two original Chinese members of the investor group dropped out late last year after the deal appeared to stall.

As Bloomberg explains, the small transaction would nevertheless have allowed a Chinese company to gain an important foothold in US financial markets, even as the Congress in recent years has passed laws trying to make it easier for companies to go public. The exchange planned to leverage the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, i.e. JOBS, Act, a 2012 law Congress passed to make it easier for smaller companies to go public.

It was reported late last year that the White House was exerting pressure to block the deal. SEC staff had reportedly wanted to approve the deal, but the new chairman, Jay Clayton, froze the agency's pending decision to approve back in August - a rare move for a new commissioner.