HK IPO Revival Hits Snags, Raising Stakes for Big Deals

Hong Kong’s relentless surge in share sales over the past year is beginning to encounter headwinds, potentially slowing deal momentum and raising the stakes for a wave of jumbo transactions in the pipeline.

Listings have raised nearly $14 billion in the first three months, notching their best quarter since 2021, largely as the result of a record January. But the mood has soured as regulators warned over staff shortages and the quality of paperwork, Beijing rolled out restrictions on some Chinese companies seeking Hong Kong initial public offerings and the war in Iran rattled the cash market.