Boom in Hong Kong IPO Expected this Year
Experts predict that Hong Kong will be the world’s third largest initial public offering market in the year 2013. In this year alone, there will be up to HK $150 billion that will be raised by as many as 80 companies. If you look at these figures it will show just how strong Hong Kong IPO is. Last year only HK $89.9 billion were raised by 64 companies. It was the lowest since the 2009 financial crisis. The figures expected this year is twice than that achieved last year. If anybody is in doubt about the future of Hong Kong IPO, this information will erase all of them.
Hong Kong IPO 2013
The market was not off to a good start at the beginning of the year and this did nothing to calm speculations of a bad year in Hong Kong IPO. Only 23 companies went public in the city in the first six months. Fortunately, IPO activity became a little more aggressive and more intense in the second half of the year.
In the first half of the year alone, HK $39.5 billion were already raised which is more than 28% compared to last year’s. This means one thing, IPO sizes are getting bigger and bigger. There is even a very good chance that Hong Kong will become the biggest IPO market in the whole world this year. It is certainly something which is achievable. Chance of this happening will be increased if Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. completes its listing this year, amounting as much as HK $200 billion.
China and Its Effects on Hong Kong IPO
The liquidity sneeze in China led postponement of various IPOs in the city. However, the outlook is a lot brighter for the second half of the year. In mainland China alone, more than 500 companies have been waiting to go public since November of last year since China halted IPO activity because of accounting irregularities. Abundant funds in the Hong Kong capital market and the signs of China’s improving economy since the last quarter of 2012 are helping Hong Kong IPO gain momentum.
Biggest IPOs this Year
Some of the biggest IPOs lined up this year are China Guangfa Bank, China Railway Materials, Sany Heavy Industry and Mongolia’s Tavan Tolgoi. China National Biotec Group, maker of vaccines, aims to raise as much as $1.6 billion. The lineup of IPOs for the year 2013 is picking up and more interest is being generated. Hong Kong IPO fever is indeed returning to the market.