According to a recent article published by South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s banks and stockbrokers are hiring more financiers from mainland of China to use their Mandarin-speaking skills to pitch for initial public offers (IPOs) and other deals. In the meantime, the city’s stock benchmark hovers at a 20-month high amid record inflow of capital from mainland of China.
China-domiciled companies like Nongfu Spring made up 98 per cent of the US$50.83 billion raised last year through IPOs in Hong Kong, up from the 73 per cent in 2019 and 94 per cent in 2018, according to Refinitiv’s data. A decade ago, Chinese companies made up 51 per cent of new capital raised in Hong Kong.
Based on Refinitiv’s 2020 ranking of equity capital market (ECM) deals, the article introduced 10 of the most influential financiers in Hong Kong who hail from the mainland: Wang Sheng, member of the management committee and head of the investment banking department, CICC; Wei Sun-Christianson, CEO of Morgan Stanley China and Co-CEO of Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific; Yang Fan, Chair of global banking for Asia, UBS; Li Tong, CEO of BOCI; Mark Wang Yunfeng, President and CEO of HSBC China; Jiang Guorong, Chairman and head of corporate and investment banking for China, Citi; Bao Fan, Chairman and CEO of China Renaissance; Charles Li Xiaojia, former CEO of HKEX; Shan Weijian, Group Chairman and CEO of PAG Group; Fred Hu Zuliu, founding chairman of Primavera Capital.
The article points out that CICC leads China’s largest investment banking team, which topped Refinitiv’s 2019 and 2020 ranking as the top IPO bookrunner in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong’s stock market has become the preferred IPO venue by unicorns,” Wang said during a conference in November in Sanya. In 2019, CICC co-sponsored Alibaba’s 2019 secondary listing in Hong Kong, which paved the way for Chinese technology giants like NetEase and JD.com to raise capital on the city’s exchange.
