| Hong Kong equity fundraising has dropped to the slowest pace since the global financial crisis as economic and regulatory doubts compound concerns over Chinese companies that once drove a steady drumbeat of lucrative listings.
“There’s too much uncertainty” to go ahead with most listings, according to a Hong Kong-based banker at one Wall Street investment bank. “There’s the tech crackdown, nationwide lockdowns ... There’s just a lot of concerns overall.
Hong Kong was expected to capitalise on geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington, as regulatory crackdowns in both countries made it more difficult for Chinese companies to list in New York.Global investment banks raced to redirect Chinese IPOs from New York to Hong Kong after Beijing launched its tech crackdown nine months ago in response to the US listing of ride-sharing platform Didi despite warnings from Chinese authorities.
“In the past two years a lot of big names have already come back to Hong Kong,” said Dickie Wong, head of research at Kingston Securities, pointing to the likes of food delivery company Meituan and gaming group NetEase.