Chinese technology start-ups still favour listing in New York, despite Hong Kong’s efforts to woo entrepreneurs.
Irked at losing out on Alibaba’s record-breaking $25bn initial public offering in 2014, Hong Kong moved this year to allow the listing of dual-class shares, giving company founders greater voting rights over ordinary shareholders.
But of the 29 Chinese tech IPOs this year, 16 were in the US, while 13 were on the Hong Kong exchange, according to data from Dealogic. The past month has brought a particular ramp-up in the number of US offerings, which included electrical vehicle maker Nio and content aggregator Qutoutiao. One investment bank said the ratio of Hong Kong IPOs in his pipeline had dropped from 80-90 per cent earlier in the year to 50-60 per cent.