China Inc. Returns: What’s Driving HKEX’s Growth

Ever because the financial reform and opening of Chinese language Mainland markets within the Nineteen Eighties, Chinese language Mainland enterprises have lengthy desired to boost funds through fairness and bond issuance to international traders. Even amidst the height of onshore home development, Chinese language Mainland companies have been actively engaged in offshore listings to entry international capital swimming pools backed by laborious (fully-convertible) currencies, such because the US greenback.

This put up builds on my earlier evaluation of Hong Kong SAR market’s IPO resurgence. On this piece, I study the broader forces behind the phenomenon, together with how shifting laws, US–China tensions, and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Restricted (HKEX) reforms are reshaping international capital flows and channeling Chinese language Mainland listings again to Hong Kong SAR.

Up till 2025, greater than 300 Mainland Chinese language corporations had listed abroad and raised lots of of billions of US {dollars} in whole. In 2020, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which marked the final peak of IPOs, corporations listed on the HKEX raised round $50 billion from IPO proceeds, pushed primarily by secondary listings within the Hong Kong market from already US-listed Chinese language Mainland tech giants like JD and NetEase.

From Wall Avenue to Central: How China’s Capital Flows Are Rebalancing

For many years, international IPO exercise has been dominated by the NYSE and NASDAQ, exchanges that collectively account for over $50 trillion in market capitalization. Ranked #1 and #2, these US exchanges surpass the whole market cap of the remainder of the highest 10 inventory exchanges on the planet. Certainly, for many years, the NYSE and Nasdaq have dominated the worldwide IPO market. America possesses a mixture of structural, financial, and institutional benefits that entice international corporations, together with these from the Chinese language Mainland, which have persistently demonstrated a robust urge for food for US listings.

The HKEX, regardless of being outranked by the US market in each issuance quantity and proceeds, stays among the many main inventory exchanges globally, incessantly rating among the many high three exchanges worldwide when it comes to IPO proceeds, and is undoubtedly the regional gateway for the Better China market.

Chinese language Mainland corporations in search of offshore capital have usually confronted a binary selection: America (NYSE/Nasdaq) or Hong Kong SAR (HKEX). The US market was usually most well-liked, particularly for tech and development corporations, as a consequence of its international visibility, valuation premiums, and deep liquidity.

Chinese language Mainland companies hardly ever take into account main inventory exchanges in different markets, similar to the UK, Continental Europe, India, or Japan, due to a mixture of elements, together with a scarcity of investor familiarity, valuation disadvantages, cultural limitations, and political elements.

Supply: SEC, HKEX, LSEG. Notes: 1. The US consists of each the NYSE and the Nasdaq; 2. Proceeds embrace solely IPO issuances, excluding switch and introduction.

For international traders, this rebalancing means new entry factors to Chinese language Mainland development — however by a market extra tightly linked to home coverage and liquidity cycles.

Regulation, Danger, and Realignment

Chinese language Mainland’s path to abroad capital has essentially modified over the previous decade, formed by deepening US–China tensions and new layers of regulation. Chinese language Mainland corporations are actually going through extra stringent necessities to entry US capital markets. Consequently, the variety of new listings from Chinese language  Mainland corporations on US exchanges has virtually halved from 19 in 1H23 to 11 in 1H25.

The passage of the Holding Overseas Corporations Accountable Act (HFCAA)[1] in the USA in 2020 was a landmark, which forces necessary delisting from the US market if a international firm fails to adjust to the PCAOB’s inspection of its audit papers.

Chinese language  Mainland nationwide safety legal guidelines prohibit the sharing of sure monetary and operational info with international entities, nonetheless. As an illustration, Chinese language Mainland Information Safety Regulation[2] imposes strict controls on cross-border knowledge transfers, which instantly collide with US necessities.

The mixed impression of regulatory limitations, delisting waves, and geopolitical uncertainty has led to a structural realignment in international capital markets. As well as, the growing reputation of personal market capital elevating in the USA additional diminished the attraction for public listings.

World PE funds raised $424.6 billion in 1H2025, already greater than the whole in 2024. Up to now, solely a minor portion of delistings of Chinese language Mainland companies have been pushed by PE acquisition in comparison with the pressured delistings. Nonetheless, larger flexibility, confidentiality, fewer disclosure necessities, and strategic management render the non-public market an rising enticing various.

This shift isn’t short-term. It’s a structural recalibration of how corporations record, how traders consider, and the place capital flows. As US–China decoupling deepens, HKEX is positioning itself as the brand new gateway for Chinese language Mainland’s international ambitions.

Buyers should adapt because the investable universe of Chinese language Mainland equities shifts from ADRs to Hong Kong SAR listings, reshaping liquidity, governance, and valuation dynamics.

Desk: Notable delistings of Chinese language Corps within the US exchanges.

Supply: SEC, NYSE, Nasdaq.

The Gateway Reinvented: HKEX’s Structural Benefit

HKEX’s latest reforms construct on a long-held benefit: proximity and coverage alignment that make it the pure vacation spot for Chinese language Mainland listings.

The Inventory Join was developed and launched by HKEX, Chinese language exchanges, and ChinaClear in 2014 to construct a mutual market entry system between Chinese language Mainland and Hong Kong SAR, permitting Chinese language Mainland traders to commerce Hong Kong SAR shares through native brokers, largely boosting liquidity and valuation potential and sustaining home protection for Hong Kong SAR-listed Chinese language Mainland companies.

These adjustments make HKEX not solely the itemizing venue of selection for issuers, however an more and more vital conduit for traders in search of diversified publicity to Chinese language Mainland’s innovation economic system.

For a very long time, Chinese language Mainland companies most well-liked U.S. exchanges for dual-class share constructions that permit them to retain management whereas elevating capital; in 2018, HKEX launched weighted voting rights for revolutionary corporations, providing equal flexibility and eliminating regulatory arbitrage.

As well as, HKEX’s sectoral give attention to biotech, tech, and inexperienced vitality companies strategically aligns with the Chinese language Mainland authorities’s initiatives, leaving apart the cultural and geographic proximity to the Chinese language Mainland Collectively, these elements, mixed with the latest structural reforms, have remodeled HKEX right into a venue that’s now the de facto selection for Chinese language Mainland companies in search of worldwide enlargement.

The New Face of Chinese language IPOs: Classes from CATL

The surge in IPOs on the HKEX on this yr’s first half is the fruits of the regulatory panorama, structural reform, and geopolitical sentiments — a brand new chapter in how Chinese language Mainland companies entry worldwide capital and increase.

Essentially the most distinguished itemizing on this rising HK IPO panorama is CATL. On Could 20, Up to date Amperex Know-how Co. Ltd. (CATL), the Chinese language Mainland battery large, accomplished the biggest IPO globally of the yr, elevating $5.2 billion on HKEX. The IPO was oversubscribed, and CATL exercised the overallotment choice as a consequence of sturdy demand. Nearly all of the proceeds have been used for his or her European enlargement, together with an EUR8.2 billion battery plant in Hungary.

CATL’s A+H itemizing technique paid off. Its shares priced at a premium on the HKEX — a sign of sturdy worldwide investor confidence. This IPO is a transparent show of the dynamics of the brand new chapter of HKEX IPOs, with a Chinese language Mainland tech large efficiently elevating a big quantity by an A+H itemizing, using the structural reform and sectoral focus benefits of HKEX to gasoline its worldwide enlargement.

Together with CATL, HKEX held 4 of the world’s 10 largest IPOs on this yr’s first half. The $14 billion of proceeds marked a 723% YoY development, outperforming all different international exchanges. Furthermore, HKEX has 207 lively itemizing candidates within the pipeline for 2H 2025, suggesting sturdy momentum and market optimism. In 1H 2025, HKEX reported income and different revenue of HKD14.08 billion, a 33% YoY development, and a web revenue of HKD8.52 billion, a 39% YoY development. As a necessary market liquidity measurement, common each day turnover reached HKD240.2 billion, surging 118% YoY.

Past the Growth: Focus Danger and What Comes Subsequent

But behind the record-breaking IPO surge lies a extra sophisticated actuality, one which exposes Hong Kong SAR’s rising dependence on the Chinese language Mainland. The overall market cap of HKEX at the moment consists of round 80% from Chinese language Mainland corporations. This stage of focus brings important publicity to the Chinese language Mainland’s financial cycles, regulatory shifts, and coverage regimes. Moreover, there’s the growing integration of Chinese language Mainland governance into Hong Kong SAR’s institutional framework.

Furthermore, many IPOs have been priced aggressively, making them susceptible to their post-IPO efficiency. The Cling Seng index rose greater than 20% YTD, however many regard this development as being pushed by short-term liquidity inflows slightly than sustainable financial fundamentals. The momentum largely relies on continued regulatory help, investor confidence, and steady macroeconomic situations.

For portfolio managers, the takeaway is obvious: Hong Kong SAR’s resurgence expands alternative, however heightens correlation danger. Differentiating cyclical restoration from structural realignment can be key.

References

Bloomberg New Financial system: High China Economist Says Beijing Simply Needs Respect – Bloomberg

The Way forward for Investing: 2024/25 Version—Overview | Franklin Templeton Institutional

PCAOB Secures Full Entry to Examine, Examine Chinese language Companies for First Time in Historical past | PCAOB

Chinese language Corporations Listed on Main U.S. Inventory Exchanges

China battery large CATL is increasing globally: Right here’s why it issues

Hong Kong’s ECM Panorama in H1 2025

Hong Kong’s IPO Growth Roars Again: Contained in the $14 Billion First-Half Surge and What’s Driving It

Personal fairness fundraising rises in H1 2025, extra capital hinges on IPO exits | S&P World

HKEX Income and Revenue Surge Over 30% in H1, Inventory Soars 50% 12 months-to-Date – Yuan Developments

[1] Holding Overseas Corporations Accountable Act: The HFCAA was enacted on Dec 18, 2020, as Public Regulation 116-222, amending the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, SEC.gov | Holding Overseas Corporations Accountable Act.

[2] Information Safety Regulation of PRC: Enacted on June 10, 2021, mandates a labeled and categorized knowledge safety system on “vital” and “core” knowledge, and triggers authorized legal responsibility for any menace to “nationwide safety,” Information Safety Regulation of the Folks’s Republic of China.