Hong Kong’s stock market has staged a dramatic comeback in 2025. After a two-decade low last year, the city now leads the world in new listings. In the first seven months of 2025, 53 new listings in Hong Kong raised HK$127.9 billion, already surpassing the full-year proceeds of 2022, 2023 and 2024. Investors who bought into those deals have been well rewarded: shares from 36 completed listings have delivered average gains of 35 percent, while short-term flips generated about 13 percent.
One of the centerpieces of the rebound came in May, when battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology raised $5.2 billion in a secondary listing, the largest globally this year. Its shares closed 16.4 percent higher on debut, and retail demand was extraordinary, with margin financing exceeding HK$280 billion, about 105 times the retail tranche.
Gordon Crosbie-Walsh, chief executive for Asia at alternative financing firm Equities First Holdings, called the deal a marker of Hong Kong’s strategic importance.
“It confirmed Hong Kong’s importance in the global expansion of China’s industrial champions,” he wrote in a recent op-ed.
Officials are betting this is just the start. Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan has projected 2025 IPO proceeds could reach US$17 billion–US$20 billion, up from about US$11 billion last year. For now, the city has already reclaimed its position as the busiest venue for new IPOs, reversing years of drift and uncertainty.
Regulatory Tailwinds
Much of the momentum stems from deliberate regulatory changes. Since September 2024, HKEX has eased listing thresholds under Chapter 18C to accommodate pre-profit technology companies and lowered requirements for SPAC transactions. This year it went further, introducing the Technology Enterprises Channel, which offers confidential filings and bespoke support for tech and biotech firms. Strategic capital markets specialists have recognized the significance of these regulatory reforms.
The reforms address what had become a competitive disadvantage. Waiting times for IPO approvals in Shanghai and Shenzhen often exceed a year, pushing many Chinese firms to look to Hong Kong instead.
“Listing aspirants report faster approvals, clearer regulatory paths and access to both international and domestic capital in Hong Kong,” Crosbie-Walsh noted. By contrast, he argued, “a more protectionist stance in the United States” has made New York less appealing to Chinese and other emerging-market issuers.
Investors Return
Global investors have also leaned back into Hong Kong. Shares in the firms listed on HKEX have outperformed their mainland peers by the widest margin since 2008, aided by Stock Connect inflows that allow cross-border access without the headaches of navigating mainland capital controls. With U.S. assets viewed as riskier due to policy frictions and dollar volatility, some managers are redistributing exposure. Investment advisory services have noted this shift in global investor sentiment toward Hong Kong markets.
Chinese investors, meanwhile, are looking outward as the yuan weakens and the domestic economy slows. Hong Kong offers a way to gain exposure to homegrown technology and financial firms while raising money in a global currency.
Crosbie-Walsh put it plainly: “Listing in Hong Kong enables them to raise capital in a global currency close to home.”
A Busy Summer
July brought further evidence of the market’s revival. On July 9, 2025, five companies debuted on the exchange, marking the busiest session of the year. Fortior Technology raised HK$2.26 billion (US$288 million) and closed up 16 percent, while Lens Technology raised HK$4.77 billion and finished the day nearly 10 percent higher.
Such deals reflect a broader industrial shift. Beijing has urged companies to embrace what it calls “new quality productive forces”—advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies such as large language models. The IPO pipeline increasingly reflects this strategy, with UBS analysts citing 20–30 mainland firms planning dual listings in Hong Kong. Global Asia-Pacific financing specialists have positioned themselves to support companies navigating these cross-border capital flows.
Beyond China
Hong Kong’s ambitions now extend beyond the mainland. Three overseas IPOs this year have already raised about $593 million.
Bonnie Chan, the chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, has said her goal is to attract more secondary listings from regional players. Crosbie-Walsh echoed that point, suggesting the city’s potential “could go beyond its traditional role as a ‘superconnector’ between mainland China and the rest of the world” to become a key fundraising venue for companies across Asia.
Financial Secretary Chan has hinted that Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian issuers are already in the pipeline for the second half of 2025. The trend recalls earlier listings by L’Occitane, Prada and Samsonite, which used Hong Kong to finance their China expansion. This time, however, the flows may point outward, with regional firms tapping Hong Kong to support expansion into Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The Road Ahead
Whether the rally can be sustained remains an open question. More than 200 companies are said to be waiting in the IPO queue, and execution will depend on stable markets and continuing investor appetite. Risks also loom from abroad. 286 Chinese companies remain listed in the U.S. with a combined market capitalization of about $1.1 trillion, and political tensions could push some of them to Hong Kong.
Closer to home, household sentiment is tied to equities and property values. About 48 percent of Hong Kong residents invest directly in stocks, and 53.8 percent own property, making wealth perception highly sensitive to both markets. With property prices still down roughly 30 percent from their 2021 peak, equity gains may be critical to offset broader wealth concerns. Alternative equity-backed financing solutions have become increasingly relevant for investors looking to maintain liquidity while preserving their equity positions.
Crosbie-Walsh is clear about the stakes: “In a landscape being reshaped by geopolitics, industrial policy and shifting capital flows, Hong Kong’s IPO boom is more than a local rebound—it’s part of a regional growth story.”
