Robin Zeng, Founder and Chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (Catl), Third Right, Strikes A Gong As Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Second Right, and Bonnie Chan, Chief Executive Offer of Hong Kong Exchange Exchange Ltd Ltd. Right, Applaud During the Catl Listing Ceremony at The Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty images
The enthusiasm of investors and companies for the capital markets of Hong Kong is roaring, since Chinese companies went to the city to raise funds, which caused a frenzy in the market that had been abandoned in recent years.
The upper agreements and an impulse backed by the State for the companies that appear in the continental exchanges to find a list in Hong Kong have promoted the volume of capital increase to the first strongest semester since 2021, according to data from the dealogic data provider.
The new listing volumes in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange jumped around eight times to $ 14 billion in the first half of this year, of only $ 1.8 billion in the same period in 2024, according to Dealogic. That excluded SPAC listings, or special -purpose acquisition companies established only to raise capital through an OPI, with the aim of acquiring or merging with another company.
That puts the city on the way to becoming the largest listing of the world this year, overcoming the Nasdaq bag and the New York Stock Exchange. PWC projected up to 100 opi on Hong Kong this year, with a total fundraising to exceed $ 25.5 billion.
The frenzy occurred after years of dazzled opi activity in the city in the middle of a postpandemic risk and stuttering economic growth.
In the first half of this year, there were 43 new listings in Hong Kong, with the income that exceeded $ 13.6 billion, exceeding the total sum raised in 2024, according to the wind information information on the financial data platform.
In comparison, there were only 73 listings in 2023, raising only $ 5.9 billion, according to HKEX data.
The renewed interest is promoted by a confluence of factors, including the regulatory tail winds of Beijing, the rhythm off of the A-Share listings, the wide liquidity of the market and the elimination of fears in the US markets, which leads continental companies to raise funds on Hong Kong, according to Steven Sun, head of the Chinese equity strategy in HSBC.
“Opi’s boom in the Hong Kong market is certainly driven by the double A-Then-H list [shares]”Sun. A-Shares said they refer to the shares that quote on the continent, while H-Shares are those that appear in Hong Kong.
“More and more companies use income to finance their globalization strategy,” said Sun, since the Hong Kong dollar is more fungible than Chinese Yuano in global markets.
Beijing politics
A jump in the prices of Chinese equity last September, caused by the expectations of a stronger economic stimulus, helped change the course of bearish stories about China.
Earlier this year, the launch of the low -cost but powerful model of Deepseek fueled more a demonstration in Chinese technological actions as investors began to reassess China’s innovation capacity, increasing a reorganization of Chinese actions.
“Market valuations have improved widely to the average historical levels, which provides a better backdrop for companies that seek to raise funds,” said Eugene Hsiao, China’s equity strategy head in Macquarie.
As of Wednesday, the HANG SENG index of Hong Kong has won a stellar 21% so far this year, which makes it one of the main best performance markets worldwide.
The hope that the Chinese authorities probably unleash the additional fiscal expense to protect the economy of any shock related to trade have further supported business confidence and confidence.
In an apparent change to support the private sector, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, told the main business leaders of the Nation in February that the country needs its help to offer economic growth.
That change, together with the long -awaited Beijing approval so that continental companies list on the high seas, unleash a wave of accumulated demand, particularly for high quality and consumer -oriented companies that are less exposed to geopolitical vegetables, said Lorraine Tan, director of Equity Research in Morningstar.
The Chinese Securities Regulator last year issued a series of measures aimed at rapid monitoring approval so that eligible continent technology companies list in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong regulators also launched a so -called “technology companies channel” in May to facilitate IPO approval for specialized technology and biotechnology companies, particularly those that already appear on the continent.
“Politics encouraging corporate citizens to the list in Hong Kong has provided a very necessary shot in the arm” by reliving the activity of OPI in the city, said Perris Lee, chief of Garyy Capital Market in Dealogic.
Purchase Spree of Continental Investors
Another driver of the Hong Kong market has been the wide liquidity provided by continental investors who accumulate in Hong Kong shares, pursuing an artificial intelligence frenzy caused by Deepseek’s advances and taking advantage of the important capital collection agreements.
Net entries in southern direction, tracked through the cross-border link stock connection scheme, increased to a record in the quarter of April-June, since the scheme was launched in 2014, according to wind information.
In marked contrast, the CSI 300 of China’s reference has barely moved this year, 0.2% to date, according to LSE data.
That has led investors on land to change money to shares that are quoted in Hong Kong, reinforcing the southern tickets to represent almost half of Hong Kong’s daily turnover, according to SUN estimates.
A a dual list
These factors helped boost a wave of continental companies in China to look for a secondary list in Hong Kong, including contemporary contemporary technology of Batterker Contemporary.
Already listed in Shenzhen, the company raised more than $ 5 billion in a secondary list in Hong Kong in May, in what is the largest offer in the world so far this year.
Among the more than 200 IPO active applicants in the pipeline that will be listed in HKEX, more than 40 are companies that are already in the continental securities bags, according to wind information.
The high profile companies that sought a main list in Hong Kong this year included Bubble Tea Retail Mixue Group, the Transport Platform and the Caocao Inc.
“The appetite to raise funds on the high seas, especially in ESH, is a reflection of broader plans to expand to foreign markets,” said Hsiao.
In the midst of the CTHROAT competition at home and commercial tensions accumulated with the United States, Beijing has asked its main companies to expand worldwide and diversify their manufacturing places.
In addition, the Hong Kong market is more “inclusive” of emerging sectors, such as AI, renewable energy, digital consumption and biotechnology, which are aligned with the needs of continental companies, said Wei LI, head of multiple asset investments for China in BNP Paribas.
The high tensions of the United States-China have turned Hong Kong into a preferred opi destination for many Chinese companies, so the Trump administration could order an expulsion of US exchanges.
“A secondary list essentially provides additional insurance for Chinese companies that quote in the United States in an unlikely case that an exclusion becomes unnegiable,” Lee said, suggesting that companies are likely to have compromised financial advisors to mark a “plan B”, with or without delisting.
