When Tsingtao Brewery listed in Hong Kong, its float was notable for two things: it was the first-ever H-share listing and its executives skipped the usual champagne to celebrate instead with their own brand beer.
H-shares were the first offshore listings for companies incorporated in China and they turn 25 next year. Since then they have been joined by a universe of A-shares, B-shares, red chips, P-chips, S-chips and N-shares. Indices that cover China are equally varied in their form and coverage. This presents a problem for investors looking at the world’s second-biggest equity market: where to start?
How people choose to measure or benchmark a market is always subjective. Big markets can happily host indices tracking different universes. New York, for example, is home to the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the broad S&P 500 as well as the outdated but ever-present Dow Jones Industrial Average. But in China’s case, those differences are even more extreme because of the share class issues.