NextFin News - Hong Kong's stock exchange is fielding interest from more than 10 international companies for initial public offerings, its chief executive said, as the world's busiest IPO venue in 2025 extends a record pipeline into this year with foreign issuers joining mainland Chinese and Southeast Asian firms.
Bonnie Chan Yi-ting, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, told the HSBC Global Investment Summit that the bourse had "over 10 international firms in the pipeline," with new listing applications at a record high. Initial public offering activity in 2026 has already reached 40% of last year's full-year level, she said, as the city tries to turn a China-led rebound into a broader, more durable international listing hub.
The Numbers Behind the Rebound
The scale of the recovery is no longer in doubt. Hong Kong raised HK$209.9 billion across 85 new listings in the first half of 2026, the strongest first-half performance in five years, according to KPMG's mid-year review of Chinese mainland and Hong Kong IPO markets. Funds raised jumped 92% and the number of listings rose 102% from the same period a year earlier.
The first quarter alone delivered HK$109.9 billion across 40 listings - nearly six times the amount raised and three times the deal count of the first quarter of 2025, a 489% increase in proceeds. Nearly 80% of those funds came from two channels: A+H listings, where mainland Chinese companies list both at home and in Hong Kong, and specialist technology offerings under Chapter 18C of the listing rules.
The full-year 2025 finish set the stage. The market generated HK$285.8 billion from 119 listings, data from the exchange showed, catapulting the city back to the world's top spot for IPO fundraising after several lean years. Accounting firms Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG now project 2026 proceeds of HK$300 billion to HK$350 billion, with Deloitte forecasting about 160 listings and the others modeling 150 to 200. KPMG has put the ceiling at HK$350 billion, or about US$45 billion.
For context, the 2026 first half alone - HK$209.9 billion - already exceeds two-thirds of the entire 2025 haul. At that run rate, the low end of the consensus forecast is effectively locked in; the question is whether the second half brings the marquee names that push the total toward the top of the range.
Yet the headline totals mask the story that matters most to the exchange's leadership: who is actually lining up. For years, Hong Kong's IPO book was overwhelmingly domestic - Chinese technology, biotech and financial firms seeking offshore capital, with foreign names treating the city as a niche stop. The 2026 pipeline is different in composition, not just size.
Foreign Issuers Return, and the Mix Shifts
Data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group as of May 4 showed a possible 12 foreign companies in Hong Kong's 2026 IPO pipeline, including U.S. blockchain infrastructure firm Blockdaemon. About 10 companies from countries including Indonesia, South Korea and Singapore have filed for Hong Kong listings this year, with others still exploring options, an exchange executive said.
Even that modest count would mark the city's best year for international debuts since at least 2020. The shift is structural in the eyes of the bourse's own executives.
"We feel that this is the start of a structural change of the next phase of international companies listing in Hong Kong," said Chui, an exchange executive, adding that the city's appeal "had widened beyond companies with China exposure."
The international push is layered on top of a deep Southeast Asian foothold. More than 150 companies from Southeast Asia are already listed in Hong Kong, with fundraising surpassing US$4.3 billion, Chan said, making the city the most popular overseas destination for Southeast Asian companies going public. That existing base lowers the cost for the next wave: bankers, lawyers and investors who know the route are already in place, and every successful Southeast Asian debut becomes a reference case for the next founder in Jakarta or Singapore.
The most visible test case is Shein. The Singapore-headquartered fast-fashion giant won approval from China's securities regulator for a Hong Kong listing after a year-long wait following its confidential filing, and is targeting a raise of up to US$3 billion, people familiar with the discussions said. The valuation, however, tells a sobering story about the price of access: after being valued at US$98.2 billion in a 2022 private round, the company is now seeking between US$25 billion and US$40 billion depending on the report, a reset of as much as 75% that signals issuers must pay up - in valuation terms - to clear the market.
Shein is not alone in accepting a haircut. The pattern across the pipeline is that foreign and China-adjacent issuers are repricing to meet the market rather than testing its ceiling - a sign of a market where buyers, not sellers, set the terms.
Why Hong Kong, and Why Now
The mechanism behind the rebound runs through three channels, and none of them is purely cyclical.
First, the regulatory gate has been greased. Beijing's approval process for overseas listings, once a source of delay and uncertainty, has become more predictable; Shein's clearance came roughly a year after filing, and the exchange has been consulting on expanding confidential filing privileges beyond technology and biotech to traditional sectors. Confidential filings matter because they let companies test the waters without public scrutiny of their finances during the marketing process - a feature U.S. issuers have long taken for granted and one that reduces the reputational cost of a failed roadshow.
Second, the investor base has diversified. Chan noted that global investor exposure to Asia doubled to approximately US$6 trillion between 2014 and 2024, while Asian market value grew fourfold since 2000 to reach US$34.4 trillion at the end of 2024. Major global fund managers that had written Chinese assets off as uninvestable have returned as buyers. When the marginal buyer changes from domestic retail to global institutions, the types of issuers that can price successfully broaden with it.
Third, the exchange has rewired its own rules to favor the sectors it wants. The revised IPO pricing framework caps retail participation at about 10% of shares, down from as much as 50% previously.
"A cap on retail participation leads to more rational pricing and post-listing performance tends to be healthier," said Shi Qi, deputy head of capital markets at China International Capital Corporation, which said it leads peers with a pipeline of more than 100 IPOs.
The trade-off is deliberate: less retail lottery demand at the offer, but a cleaner aftermarket with fewer first-day collapses.
That last point is not cosmetic. New listings including autonomous-driving peers Pony.ai and WeRide fell nearly 10% to 13% on their debut trading days, and Shi characterized such moves as "normal short-term movements." The exchange is betting that institutional-heavy books price more accurately on day one, even if it means fewer headline-grabbing pops.
There is a fourth channel that rarely makes the speeches but matters operationally: capacity. Hong Kong firms have been on the hunt for more bankers to lead the booming pipeline after a years-long dry spell, and the exchange has kept the review process rigorous despite a queue of hundreds. A market can only absorb so many deals per quarter before pricing quality deteriorates. The fact that 488 companies were awaiting approval in February, in the words of exchange chairman Carlson Tong, is both an asset and a constraint - deep optionality, but a bottleneck risk if the tap opens too fast.
The Valuation Reset: Discount to Enter
The clearest evidence that this is a buyer's market sits in the pricing. Shein's journey from a US$98.2 billion private valuation in 2022 to a potential US$25 billion to US$40 billion public mark is the most visible example, but the dynamic runs through the book. Fast-fashion investor enthusiasm has cooled, tariff overhangs weigh on cross-border retailers, and the market's appetite has rotated toward semiconductors, robotics and biotech - sectors where Hong Kong has built genuine expertise through its specialist technology chapter.
For issuers, the calculus is pragmatic: a lower valuation today buys liquidity, a global shareholder base and a currency-denominated exit that private markets cannot match. For investors, the reset is the margin of safety that was missing during the 2021 boom. The exchange's leadership is implicitly accepting this bargain - volume and diversity now, premium pricing later.
The Counter-Thesis: Is This a China Rally Wearing Foreign Clothes?
The strongest case against the international-pipeline narrative is that it confuses composition with durability. The bulk of the money - more than 70% in the first half - still comes from A+H and specialist technology listings, both dominated by mainland Chinese issuers. The foreign count, at 10 to 12 companies, is a rounding error against the 110 Chinese and Hong Kong firms that raised US$36.4 billion in 2025, according to LSEG data. If global risk appetite for China assets sours, the foreign queue could evaporate while the domestic pipeline - driven by Beijing's policy priorities rather than global sentiment - keeps the totals high. In that reading, Hong Kong is not becoming a global hub; it is becoming the offshore listing venue of last resort for Chinese firms, dressed up with a handful of Southeast Asian names.
There is force in that objection. A+H listings are, by design, a China story: companies already public in Shanghai or Shenzhen raising offshore capital, often to fund overseas expansion. And the valuation reset on marquee names like Shein shows that foreign issuers are not getting premium pricing - they are discounting to get done. If the pipeline's foreign share does not rise, the "structural change" claim collapses into a cyclical China re-rating.
There is also a competitive threat that the bullish case underweights. Singapore has staged its own IPO rebound in 2026, and Southeast Asian founders have options. A company in Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City weighing Hong Kong against Singapore is not choosing between a global hub and nothing; it is choosing between two regional platforms, each with its own investor base and geopolitical profile. Hong Kong's edge - deeper liquidity and access to China capital - only holds if cross-border channels stay open and if the China growth story retains its premium.
But the counter-thesis misses the sequencing. International issuers do not lead a market reopening; they follow it. They wait for liquidity, for a functioning aftermarket, for proof that non-China names can price - and only then commit. The presence of 10 to 12 filers before the market has fully proven itself is the signal, not the lagging indicator. The real test is not today's count but whether the next cohort includes names with no China exposure at all.
What to Watch and What Could Break the Thesis
The pipeline is deep enough to carry momentum through the near term. The exchange chairman, Carlson Tong, said in February that 488 companies were awaiting approval, with 24 listings already raising more than HK$87 billion since the start of the year. Upcoming names span the sectors the exchange is courting: China's Robotera is eyeing a Hong Kong IPO to raise up to US$1 billion, and Mech-Mind Robotics has cleared a listing hearing, while battery-storage and advanced-manufacturing firms are expected to lean on the A+H channel.
Three signals separate the structural case from the cyclical one. First, the share of proceeds from non-China issuers: if it stays below 10% through 2026, the international story is marketing rather than substance. Second, aftermarket performance - if first-day declines become a pattern rather than isolated moves, issuers will price more aggressively or walk. Third, the valuation floor: Shein's eventual listing price will set the tone for whether foreign issuers see Hong Kong as a fair-value venue or a discount bin.
Base case: 2026 closes with proceeds in the HK$300 billion to HK$350 billion range, the foreign cohort reaches the low double digits, and Hong Kong retains its position as the world's leading IPO venue by funds raised. Upside: a successful Shein debut at the top of its range and more U.S.-listed Chinese firms pursuing dual-primary listings pull the international share higher. Downside: a deterioration in global risk appetite or a regulatory reversal on mainland listings starves the A+H engine that currently supplies most of the volume.
The falsifying signal is specific: if, by the end of 2026, international issuers account for less than 5% of total IPO proceeds and no non-China, non-Southeast Asia company completes a listing of more than US$500 million, the "structural change" thesis is wrong - and Hong Kong's rebound is a China cycle, not a global repositioning.
Hong Kong has rebuilt the plumbing of an IPO machine; the remaining question is whether the world will trust it with more than China's overflow.
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