Hong Kong IPO bankers hope for better in 2023

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Hong Kong IPO bankers hope for better in 2023

Hong Kong MTR subway station
Photo: Getty Images

Initial public offerings by Chinese firms are Hong Kong’s lifeblood, yet they were rarer than hen’s teeth in 2022. For deal flow to return, China must open up. Buckle up: things could get bumpy.

In capital markets terms, Hong Kong has long been something of a one-trick pony.

It never was a debt markets powerhouse, and likely never will be. Its allure lay in equities, and in a seemingly preordained role as the financial bridge between China and the rest of the world.

For years, nothing seemed to deter mainland companies from issuing shares in Hong Kong. Not the street protests that disrupted civic life through 2019, nor the decision to shutter the border with China as soon as Covid struck.

If anything, IPO volumes in the first two years of the pandemic actually improved.

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Elliot Wilson headshot.jpg
Asia editor and Global Private Banking and Wealth Management editor
Elliot Wilson is Asia editor and Global Private Banking and Wealth Management editor. He joined the magazine in 2020 having been a regular contributor focusing on China and the Indian subcontinent, Russia and Eastern Europe/the CIS. He is based in Hong Kong.
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