Int'l listings in Hong Kong to be emerging trend

Xinhua, June 30, 2011

The growth of the international listings in Hong Kong is expected to be an emerging trend, benefited from the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEx)'s continued open approach and the development of Renminbi-denominated initial public offering (IPO), accountant Deloitte said here on Wednesday.

The HKEx continues to adopt an open approach, which includes admitting companies from an expanded list of jurisdictions to list in Hong Kong, recognizing the Japan Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and establishing the rules and infrastructure for Renminbi-denominated IPOs, said Edward Au, the national co-leader of public offering group at Deloitte China.

These factors all help Hong Kong keep attracting international companies to list here, Au said.

The top five largest IPOs in Hong Kong during the first half of the year were all international listings, including Glencore, Prada and Samsonite, Au said, adding that he expected to see about 15 international listings by the end of 2011, with some of them opting for listing by introduction.

Au expected Hong Kong's IPO market to remain active in the second half of this year, with the total amount of proceeds to reach about 400 billion HK dollars, a 11 percent drop from the 449 billion HK dollars in 2010 though, dragged by some smaller deal size.

Hong Kong's IPO fund-raising for the first half of 2011 was the best interim performance in 10 years, according to Deloitte. The proceeds from the 33 new listings jumped 2.6 times from a year ago to 182.2 billion HK dollars, ranking the second globally, shortly staying behind the 190 billion HK dollars from the New York Stock Exchange.