Hong Kong IPO demand and pricing: what the market data shows

The public data on Hong Kong's IPO market is good on volume and quiet on price. The exchange publishes what was raised and by whom¹, and the large audit firms publish half-year reviews of deal counts, proceeds, sector mix and the application queue². None of them publishes the multiple at which a foreign issuer priced. This guide reads what those sources say, and is plain about where they stop.

Where Hong Kong sat in 2025

By IPO equity funds raised, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing ranked first in the world in 2025 at US$37.4 billion¹. NASDAQ was second at US$27.8 billion, India's NSE and BSE third at US$23.0 billion, and the New York Stock Exchange fourth at US$22.3 billion¹. The figures are provisional and exclude SPAC listings, listings by introduction and GEM transfers¹.

The largest listing was Contemporary Amperex Technology's H-share offering at HK$41.01 billion, followed by Zijin Gold International at HK$28.73 billion and SANY Heavy Industry at HK$15.35 billion¹. Seven of the ten largest IPOs of 2025 were H-share offerings¹. The smallest deal on that list, Chuangxin Industries, raised HK$6.32 billion¹. A mid-market issuer sits well below that line, in the part of the market the headline ranking does not describe.

The first half of 2026, counted twice

KPMG's mid-year review, with figures as of 26 June 2026 adjusted for confirmed listings up to 30 June, records HK$209.9 billion raised across 85 completed IPOs, up 92% and 102% respectively on the first half of 2025². Deloitte, working from a forecast as of 30 June that excludes offerings announced from 18 June onward, puts the half at about HK$203.3 billion from 78 IPOs, against HK$107.1 billion from 42 listings a year earlier³. The two counts differ because the inclusion rules differ. KPMG includes listings by introduction and excludes SPAC, de-SPAC and GEM transfers². Deloitte excludes investment trusts, closed-ended funds, SPACs and de-SPACs³. We quote both so that a reader who meets either figure knows where it came from.

Globally, the half belonged to Nasdaq, which took first place on the strength of SpaceX, the largest IPO in history, with Hong Kong second and the New York Stock Exchange third³. Hong Kong's second quarter included a listing of more than HK$20 billion by a Chinese printed circuit board manufacturer, after three mega H-share listings in the first quarter³.

How concentrated the proceeds are

Concentration is the number we would want a foreign issuer to read before the total. In the first half of 2026 the ten largest IPOs raised 44% of all proceeds, down from 54% in 2025². Deloitte counts five mega IPOs and 12 large IPOs taking more than 60% of the half's proceeds³. On KPMG's figures, the remaining 56% of proceeds was spread across the other 75 completed listings² (our arithmetic).

The capacity is not confined to the largest names, since the number of completed deals doubled². The deals that set the tone, though, are a small group of very large Mainland issuers³.

What the market is buying

The sector story is the clearest signal in the data. Deloitte finds that new economy companies, meaning semiconductors, the AI value chain, robotics, biotech, specialist technology and hard technology companies from the A-share market, made up more than 70% of the number of Hong Kong IPOs and nearly four-fifths of total proceeds in the first half of 2026³. KPMG's count of new economy listings is HK$160.1 billion across 65 IPOs, against HK$75.0 billion across 20 a year earlier².

Two listing chapters carry much of that. Pre-revenue biotech companies under Chapter 18A raised HK$12.5 billion across 11 IPOs, up from HK$4.8 billion across six, with issuers mainly in surgical robots, drug discovery and medical imaging AI². Specialist technology companies under Chapter 18C raised HK$29.8 billion across 13 IPOs, where there had been none at all in the first half of 2025, with issuers in intelligent driving, robotics, artificial intelligence, software and advanced hardware². Taken together, A+H listings (dual Mainland and Hong Kong) and Chapter 18C listings raised 72% of all Hong Kong IPO proceeds in the half².

Deloitte attributes the mix to a sequence of reforms: the 2018 listing regime changes, the specialist technology regime in 2023, the Technology Enterprises Channel introduced last year, new technology indices, and quicker listing reviews for large A-share companies³.

The queue behind the door

Demand for a venue shows in who is waiting to use it. KPMG counts more than 500 active IPO applications as of 26 June 2026, including confidential filings, a record². Deloitte, counting to the end of May, puts the figure above 600, with more than 100 A-share issuers, nearly a quarter technology firms and one-fifth high-end manufacturers³. The US route has narrowed at the same time: Chinese companies completed one US IPO raising US$12 million in the first half of 2026, against 39 raising US$886 million a year earlier³.

By sector, KPMG's analysis of the active applications shows:

• technology, media and telecommunications, 33%²
• industrials, 26%²
• healthcare and life sciences, 21%²
• all other sectors, the remainder²

For a North American or Australian issuer, the three named sectors add to 80% of the queue². A company in one of them will find a market that has recently priced businesses like it. A company outside them is in the fifth of the queue that the reviews class as other.

What the data does not say about price

None of the three sources reports a valuation multiple, a price-to-earnings ratio at listing or a first-day return. Volume data tells a company that the money is there and which sectors it went to. It does not say what the company's own shares would fetch. The closest the reviews come is Deloitte's list of what will move valuations in the second half of 2026: how the US/Israel-Iran conflict ends, whether the Strait of Hormuz reopens, the path of US interest rates, and the valuations placed on two large AI companies expected to list later in the year³. Those are conditions, not a price.

Deloitte also expects Hong Kong to finish 2026 in the top three globally, with at least eight listings each raising HK$10 billion or more and about 160 new listings raising HK$300 billion for the full year³. That is a forecast, and we treat it as one.

The next step

Take the amount the company intends to raise, convert it to Hong Kong dollars, and place it against the figures above: below the HK$6.32 billion floor of the 2025 top ten¹, and inside the 56% of first-half 2026 proceeds that went to the 75 listings beneath the top ten² (our arithmetic). The public reviews leave one column blank, the multiple at which comparable deals priced. Put one request to each sponsor under consideration: the Hong Kong listings in the company's sector that priced in the last twelve months, the size of each, and the multiple at which each priced.

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