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Banking & finance
Business

Hong Kong slides into ninth place worldwide for IPOs after fundraising falls to 20-year low in first half of 2023

  • A total of 28 companies raised US$2.2 billion in the first half, Hong Kong’s lowest funding total since 2003, Refinitiv data shows
  • Second-quarter fundraising rose 55 per cent over the first quarter, which brokers say bodes well for a comeback in the second half

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Exchange Square, home of bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, pictured on June 2, 2023. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Enoch Yiu
Funds raised from new share listings in Hong Kong dropped to a two-decade low in the first half of the year, pushing the city to ninth place in a global ranking of initial public offering (IPO) markets. Yet analysts remain optimistic about a comeback in the next six months.
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A total of 28 companies raised US$2.2 billion via IPOs on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange in the first half of 2023, according to data company Refinitiv.

The amount is 8.5 per cent lower than 2022’s first-half total and the lowest since the US$802 million raised in the first half of 2003 when the city was hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak.

Hong Kong actually fared better than many other stock markets in 2023’s first half, as global IPO proceeds declined 24 per cent.

ZJLD Group, a Chinese liquor company, had Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering so far, raising US$676.39 million in April. Photo: ZJLD Weibo
ZJLD Group, a Chinese liquor company, had Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering so far, raising US$676.39 million in April. Photo: ZJLD Weibo
Hong Kong has gained one position in the ranking compared with this time last year, when it ranked 10th globally before climbing back to third place at the end of the year.
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