Hong Kong beats Nasdaq to IPO crown as Alibaba, Budweiser mega listings lift funds raised to US$40 billion for 2019
- The Hong Kong stock exchange shot ahead of Nasdaq thanks to Alibaba’s mega listing in November, which raised US$12.9 billion
- Outlook for 2020 is good, say analysts, as Alibaba’s performance since debut, and a breakthrough in US-China trade talks attract more listings
Hong Kong has again taken the crown as the world’s largest initial public offering market worldwide.
The mega listing of Alibaba Group Holding in November pushed it to the top of the league for the seventh times in 11 years, according to data from Refinitiv.
Some 144 companies have raised US$40 billion on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange this year, as of December 26, 8.7 per cent higher than the US$36.8 billion raised in 2018. It is the highest amount raised in a single year since 2010.
Besides Alibaba, Hong Kong’s main board also attracted Budweiser Brewing Co APAC, the Asia-Pacific arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer. The beer maker raised US$5.7 billion in the fourth largest IPO worldwide this year.
The two blockbuster listings allowed Hong Kong to jump ahead of Nasdaq, in second place, which raised US$27.5 billion. Nasdaq attracted listings including ride-hailing company Lyft’s IPO of US$2.6 billion and Brazilian digital broker XP, which raised US$2.2 billion.
Tha Saudi Stock Exchange, which was not in the top 10 list last year, finished third in 2019 after state oil giant Saudi Aramco’s IPO worth US$25.6 billion earlier this month. It was the world's biggest IPO of all time, bypassing Alibaba’s US$25 billion offering in New York in September 2014. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.