Editorial | Hong Kong’s IPO market rings in 2026 on a high note
The city catapulted itself into the global top spot for initial public offerings in 2025, with another strong pipeline of listings expected this year
Led by US-based drug-discovery specialist Insilico Medicine, the six firms raised a total of HK$6.99 billion (US$899 million) while no fewer than 26 debutants started trading in December. The IPO market, as of December 30, has generated HK$285.8 billion from 119 listings. With first-day trading averaging a price gain of almost 40 per cent, more punters who suffered several lean years since the Covid-19 outbreak have fat wallets to celebrate in this festive season.
The new year is expected to see another pipeline of IPOs. Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, biotech and pharmaceutical firms from mainland China is likely to continue. Accounting giants EY, Deloitte and KPMG expect IPO proceeds in 2026 to exceed those in 2025, reaching HK$300 billion to HK$350 billion.
The IPO market success mirrors the upbeat tone of Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po in a blog post. He forecasts a “positive momentum” and “moderate expansion” for the local economy despite an anticipated global slowdown. He now projects a real gross domestic product growth of 3.2 per cent for the whole of 2025, ahead of the previous estimates of 2 to 3 per cent.
Chan anticipates the economic revival in exports and investment to be sustained well into the new year.
Not too long ago, Chinese stocks were considered “uninvestable”. Now, major global fund managers such as BlackRock and Singapore’s Temasek have become active buyers of local IPOs this year. The Hang Seng Index has surged almost 30 per cent.