Hong Kong IPOs surge to record high for the third quarter as listings in the rest of the world plunge
Hong Kong also surpasses the US in IPO fundraising for the third quarter, thanks to China Tower’s US$7.5b and Meituan Dianping’s US$4.2b listings
Hong Kong attracted the largest number of initial public offerings ever for any single third quarter as the new listing rules implemented in April attracted some big tech flotations, while globally the number for equity market deals plunged 21 per cent to a three-year low, according to data from Dealogic on Tuesday.
Forty-seven IPOs launched on the Hong Kong market in the July to September period, raising a combined US$16.4 billion, overshadowing the US$14.9 billion raised on US exchanges.
The biggest listings during the period included telecoms tower operator China Tower’s US$7.5 billion offering and food delivery service app Meituan Dianping’s US$4.2 billion fundraising.
Together with Xiaomi’s US$5.4 billion IPO in June, they comprised three of the top five global offerings so far this year.
During the third quarter, the Hong Kong stock exchange also saw 126 IPO filings, taking the overall number in the first nine months of 2018 to 340, up 48 per cent for the whole of 2017.