HKEX Insight

The Hong Kong market saw robust issuance, with money raised from IPOs reaching US$14.1 billion in H1 2025, US$4.8 billion more than the second leading exchange, according to Dealogic data.

Compared with H1 2024, IPO fundraising in Hong Kong was up 695% year-on-year, far outperforming the 8% year-on-year growth in total IPO funds raised across the world over the same period.

IPO proceeds exceeded those of FY 2024, FY 2023 and FY 2022, as issuers from a diverse range of sectors, including industrials, consumer, healthcare, TMT and financials sought listings.

CATL’s US$5.3 billion H-share IPO on 20 May 2025 was the largest IPO globally since 2023, and Hong Kong saw three additional US$1 billion+ IPOs by Hengrui Pharma, Haitian Flavouring & Food and Sanhua Intelligent Controls. These four deals meant that Hong Kong had four of the world’s 10 largest IPOs in H1 2025.

Strong demand for these mega-IPOs enabled issuers to exercise options to increase the size of their offerings in three of the four deals, and the four issues saw healthy aftermarket performance, up 14% on average since listing, as of 30 June 2025.

Eight A-to-H IPOs were priced during H1 2025, raising US$10.1 billion, with many of the cohort raising funds in Hong Kong to finance their international expansion.

Post-IPO prices of these H-shares have shown a narrowing discount to their A-shares counterparts, with the CATL H-share even priced at a premium to its A-share, reflecting robust demand from international investors.

Interest from international issuers also surged, with three IPOs by international companies – Nanshan Aluminium, Mirxes and IFBH – completed during the period, reinforcing the city’s appeal as a dynamic and competitive fundraising hub.

Healthcare generated US$5.8 billion in ECM volume, the highest H1 amount since 2021, driven by a number of follow-on offerings.

TMT issuance amounted to US$13.7 billion in H1 2025, as sector players capitalised on enhanced valuations following the launch of an open-source large language model by Hangzhou-based AI company DeepSeek.

Consumer issuers saw multiple successes in H1, especially in the IPO space, with average aftermarket performance of 70% as of 30 June 2025, notably by Mixue and Bloks Group as well as companies in the cosmetics, beverage and jewellery sectors.

The availability of call spread overlays and concurrent share buybacks following waivers introduced by HKEX in 2024 contributed to continuation of equity-linked issuance with new structures.

Additionally, IPO offering structures increasingly included upsize options, allowing issuers to capture firm demand.

New initiatives at the regulatory level have helped speed up the listing process: in May 2025, HKEX and the Securities and Futures Commission jointly launched the Technology Enterprises Channel (TECH) to support Specialist Technology and Biotech companies with their listing applications.