Hong Kong IPO frenzy sets sights on record HK$250 billion fundraising for 2025

HONG Kong’s sizzling initial public offering (IPO) market is prompting the Big Four accounting firms to sharply raise their fundraising forecasts for 2025. KPMG now predicts total proceeds could soar to HK$250 billion (S$40.6 billion) if current market conditions persist.

As of June 30, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) was reviewing 219 active IPO applications – a record-breaking 210 of which were for the mainboard alone.

In the first half of 2025, some 44 companies went public in Hong Kong, a 47 per cent jump from the same period last year. IPO proceeds increased sevenfold to HK$107.1 billion, catapulting HKEX to the top of global exchanges for the first half – its best mid-year performance since 2016.

KPMG has revised its 2025 outlook, now projecting over 100 IPOs raising more than HK$200 billion, compared with its earlier forecast of 80 deals raising HK$100 billion to HK$120 billion.

“A+H” dual listings are fueling the boom. Four of the world’s 10 largest IPOs in the first half were Chinese companies pursuing secondary H-share listings in Hong Kong after A-share debuts.

These were Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food and Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls. Their combined Hong Kong proceeds topped HK$93 billion.

Seven “A+H” listings in the first half alone contributed HK$77 billion, accounting for 72 per cent of Hong Kong’s total IPO fundraising, according to KPMG. Of the more than 200 IPO applications pending in Hong Kong, 44 are “A+H” companies, with seven boasting market caps above 100 billion yuan.

If favorable conditions hold, 60 per cent to 70 per cent of those ‘A+H’ candidates could debut this year, Louis Lau, KPMG’s Hong Kong head of capital markets, told Caixin. He added that two or three of them could each raise more than HK$10 billion.

Other Big Four firms are equally bullish. Ernst & Young, Deloitte and PwC have each forecast 2025 IPO proceeds ranging from HK$160 billion to HK$220 billion. PwC expects two to three mega IPOs raising more than HK$10 billion each in the second half, alongside several midsize offerings.

Meanwhile, China’s A-share IPO pipeline is accelerating. The China Securities Regulatory Commission accepted more than 140 A-share IPO applications in June alone – a sharp rise from the 15 per month from January to May – signaling renewed momentum in the mainland market.

Industry insiders told Caixin the spike in June was partly due to companies rushing to file applications before the mid-year financial reporting cutoff. Missing the deadline would have required updates with more recent earnings data.

Lau noted that Hong Kong’s IPO boom has been partially fueled by the mainland’s IPO slowdown since late 2023. While a faster A-share market may lure some issuers back to Chinese mainland, companies with global ambitions will probably continue to view Hong Kong as a critical gateway to global investors.

A recent policy could further reshape the landscape. In June, China’s State Council and the Communist Party’s General Office announced that companies from the Greater Bay Area already listed in Hong Kong may also seek listings in Shenzhen – sparking speculation about an A-share debut for Tencent Holdings.

Lau said Tencent meets both the headquarters and market cap thresholds to qualify for a Shenzhen listing, but specific dual-listing guidelines are still pending.

Under current rules, Hong Kong-listed red-chip companies need a minimum market cap of 200 billion yuan to list in Shenzhen, unless classified as cutting-edge tech firms, which need only 20 billion yuan.

Together, Hong Kong and mainland A-share IPOs accounted for 40 per cent of global IPO fundraising in the first half of the year. The Shanghai Stock Exchange ranked fourth globally with US$4.5 billion in IPO proceeds, behind Nasdaq’s US$9.2 billion, New York Stock Exchange’s US$7.8 billion, and ahead of India’s National Stock Exchange.

Hong Kong’s capital markets are thriving beyond IPOs. Follow-on offerings hit a four-year high, with total equity capital markets fundraising reaching US$36.6 billion in the first half, up 4.34 times year-on-year, according to the London Stock Exchange Group. Secondary offerings alone surged 5.44 times to US$20.3 billion. CAIXIN GLOBAL