THE stock exchange has easily broken 1992's record performance this year, with 64 company listings which have raised $27 billion in capital, against 56 which raised about $9 billion last year.
Among the exchange's accomplishments this year were the much-heralded listings of mainland enterprises, a growing number of spin-off listings and the listing of international firms' Asian operations.
Executive director and head of listings Herbert Hui Ho-ming said these developments and the increased size of the new issues reflected the market's maturity and ability to handle large fund-raising exercises.
Mr Hui said the exchange's most significant achievement this year had been its ability to balance fund-raising activity with improved protection for investors, which was crucial to the exchange's development.
''Whether they are a fund manager sitting in their office in New York or a man on a tram in Wan Chai, an investor can feel confident that investments on the Hong Kong exchange are well protected,'' he said.
''Simply blindly facilitating new capital-raising without adequate protection will only hurt the exchange and the investing environment.'' Provisional figures for the year show that 64 companies, four investment companies and 47 debt securities have been listed, with 27 warrants and nine open-ended funds.
