Has Xpeng’s dual primary listing set the stage for homecoming by more US-listed Chinese tech firms?

The trading debut of Xpeng’s US$1.8 billion initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong kicked off a day after Beijing announced a new set of rules for companies looking to raise capital on overseas exchanges.

The stock opened on Wednesday 1.8 per cent higher at HK$168 before ending the day flat at its IPO price of HK$165. Xpeng has, however, become the first company with a weighted voting rights (WVRs) structure to choose Hong Kong as its second home jurisdiction in a dual primary listing, setting an example for other similarly structured US-listed Chinese technology companies despite a sell-off in Chinese technology stocks in the city in the aftermath of Beijing’s latest crackdown.

The Xpeng IPO will boost the Hong Kong bourse’s ongoing drive to attract mainland China’s technology innovators through dual primary listings. Reinforcing its role as the fundraising hub helping such mainland companies achieve Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “Made in China 2025” industrial master plan means lucrative business for the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Moreover, Beijing wants home-grown carmakers to command 80 per cent of China’s electric vehicle (EV) market by 2025. And by carrying out its dual primary listing, Guangzhou-based Xpeng has shown other US-listed Chinese EV makers, NIO and Li Auto, how to navigate the new set of listing rules – introduced in April 2018 as part of a sweeping reform by the Hong Kong exchange – to list closer to home and hedge against the risks posed by a worsening US-China technology rivalry.

Xpeng’s Gu, who was the chairman of JPMorgan’s Asia-Pacific Investment Banking business before joining the start-up in March 2018, is no stranger to Nicolas Aguzin, the new CEO of bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), himself a veteran JPMorgan banker. A successful dual primary listing by a Chinese company with WVRs could open the floodgates for the exchange, a win-win outcome for both former bankers.