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Why even a protest-hit Hong Kong won’t lose its IPO crown to Singapore
- Singapore is just not as competitive when it comes to raising capital
- The question for Singapore companies that have switched to the Hong Kong exchange is: was it the right call?
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When Chinese tech giant Alibaba made its debut on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) in November, the world sat up to watch.
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The stock finished 6.6 per cent higher in a heavily oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO) that raised about US$13 billion. It easily became one of the biggest listings globally last year, second only to Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company.
For the HKEX, it was a homecoming of sorts, given that founder Jack Ma had wanted to go public in Hong Kong back in 2014, before the company – which owns the South China Morning Post – decided on New York for its first listing.
It was also the largest IPO to have landed on the stock exchange last year, propelling the local bourse to retain its crown as the world’s top fundraising destination – a bright spot for a city that continues to be rocked by months of civil unrest.
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Elsewhere, four months earlier, competitor Singapore Exchange (SGX) had also hosted what would become its largest IPO for the year, but to a slightly different reception.
US office real-estate investment trust Prime US Reit ended its first day on the open market on a tepid note, closing at its IPO price of US$0.88. The stock sale, also oversubscribed, raised US$833 million.
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