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Hong Kong IPO market revival on the cards amid favourable interest-rate outlook, China policy easing
- Hong Kong stock exchange’s IPO ranking sank to 8th this year, with fundraising slumping to US$5.9 billion from 68 listings
- Analysts are confident Hong Kong can shrug off a dismal year, pointing to a slew of positive signs including potentially lower interest rates and China’s policy boost
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When Chinese baijiu maker ZJLD Group raised HK$5.31 billion (US$676.4 million) in April, few would have expected it to be Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering of the year.
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It trailed China Tourism Group Duty Free’s US$2.3 billion IPO in 2022 and fell far short of short-video platform Kuaishou Tech’s US$6.2 billion listing the previous year. Hong Kong’s IPO value fell 53.5 per cent to a 20-year low of US$5.9 billion from 68 listings, according to Refinitiv data. Simply put, 2023 was dismal for IPOs.
ZJLD’s CFO Lambert Wang Lianbo, however, sees the company’s listing as an achievement and expressed confidence in Hong Kong’s IPO market despite the slump in fundraising.
“The notion of a ‘good’ IPO market goes beyond the short-term and unexpected stock price performance,” Wang said. The promise of Hong Kong remains undiminished, he added.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing’s (HKEX) main board dropped to 8th this year in the global IPO table, the lowest since 2001 when it ranked No 14, according to Refinitiv data released on Friday. The city last topped the league in 2019, with 144 IPOs raising US$40 billion.
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