FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse (>> Deutsche Boerse AG) stopped promoting German listings in China a year ago, the stock exchange operator said on Wednesday, a day after a German-listed Chinese shoemaker said top managers and cash had vanished.

A spokesman for Deutsche Boerse said the decision was for commercial reasons.

The German exchange declined to elaborate further on the reasons for no longer seeking business in China but people familiar with the company said its hopes of attracting larger companies over time had not materialised.

It started promoting its trading platform in China in 2006 and opened a representative office in Beijing in 2008. Twenty-five Chinese companies are currently listed on the exchange, it said.

Chinese footwear maker Ultrasonic (>> Ultrasonic AG) said on Tuesday most of its cash in China had disappeared and that it had lost track of top executives, adding to similar incidents at Deutsche Boerse-listed Chinese groups.

German-listed Chinese manufacturer, Youbisheng Green Paper (>> Youbisheng Green Paper AG), started insolvency proceedings earlier this year after its CEO went absent without explanation. And Chinese fashion group Kinghero (>> KINGHERO AG) accused its former chief executive of breach of fiduciary trust and later sought to delist.

"One can only advise investors to refrain from investments in unknown Chinese stocks," said Daniel Bauer, board member at German private investor lobby SdK.

He added that investors should consider taking auditors and underwriting banks to court. "Trying to sue the perpetrators in China seems pointless."

TELLING GOOD FROM BAD

Asked by Reuters what Deutsche Boerse plans to do to prevent similar incidents in future, the company said in a written statement all companies listed on its exchange had met strict disclosure requirements and that it was the role of the capital market to tell good from bad investments.

"(Investors buying shares in an IPO) should be capable of evaluating the opportunities and risks associated with business models as well as management's corporate governance," the exchange said.

Snowbird, a Chinese maker of down bedding and clothing that is in the bookbuilding phase ahead of a Frankfurt stock market debut, on Wednesday said it was shocked by developments at Ultrasonic.

"One more black sheep that destroys all the trust-building measures we have done so far," Snowbird CEO Yan Changzai said in a statement.

The largest Chinese company by market value in Deutsche Boerse's Prime Standard trading segment is Joyou (>> Joyou AG), a maker of bathroom fixtures and fittings worth about 280 million euros (222.38 million pounds). The others have market values of below 100 million euros.

(Additional reporting by Edward Taylor, Alexander Huebner and Jonathan Gould; Writing by Ludwig Burger; editing by Susan Thomas)

By Andreas Kröner