The Hong Kong paradox

What once looked like a healthy and steady pipeline of IPOs across Europe and the US has evaporated in a flash. read

Crazy rich Asian (primary markets)

For all the talk of a deluge of tech IPOs soon hitting the Asian (and especially Hong Kong) markets, the performance of new listings and investor appetite there both remain decidedly subdued. read

The Merlion roars again

Something quite extraordinary has just been happening in Singapore. For the first time in several years, investors in the city-state have been able to punt on a local, multi-billion-dollar IPO. read

Year of the dragon

Just as the country’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, met with Donald Trump on a US tour, Vietnam’s equity capital markets were repeatedly in the news over the last few weeks, with a flurry of IPOs and new listings, heralding that issuers there may finally be coming of age. read

Heaven can wait

Doing away with Hong Kong’s free float rule

On July 27, the HKEx announced that “it was minded to exercise its power” to cancel the listing of China Oriental Group within a period of six months, due to the company’s insufficient public float. This, however, was only the latest step in a rather long saga, which illustrates to a tee not only that the exchange’s minimum free float rule actually serves little purpose, but also how incredibly slowly the regulators can move to make decisions in the city, thereby hurting both institutional and retail investors. read

From Russia, with fees

On January 18, a delegation led by Arkady Dvorkovich, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, visited the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. It was not the first time a high profile dignitary from Russia had toured its facilities. read

The year of living dangerously

In December, I reviewed the disappointing volumes last year for primary equity issuance in Southeast Asia, and wondered whether 2016 could be the year when ECM bankers who cover the region become busy again. With the Chinese bourses now in free fall, the authorities there repeatedly depreciating the Yuan in a bid to prop up the economy, and an extension of the ban on equity sales by large investors in Shanghai and Shenzhen, market participants could indeed well turn their attention down South again. read

Can the Malaysian tiger roar again?

What has happened to Malaysia’s primary equity markets? Once the darling of ECM departments, featuring highly successful multi-billion dollar offerings by the likes of Petronas Chemicals, Felda Global Ventures or IHH Healthcare, the Southeast Asia nation now languishes at the bottom of the regional league tables. read

Asian IPOs go binary