Hong Kong IPOs Start Year With Rapid Pace As Fundraising Jumps Tenfold And No First‑Day Declines

The Hong Kong capital market opened the year with notable momentum. On February 24, Huayi Technology formally filed a listing application with the Hong Kong Exchange, following Green Cloud Software as another company submitting during the Year of the Horse. Although the Lunar New Year holiday briefly paused issuance activity, the IPO pipeline has resumed with strong momentum that sets an energetic tone for the year.

Wind data indicate that by February 25 twenty‑four companies had completed Hong Kong IPOs, raising a combined HKD 89.226 billion, a year‑on‑year increase of 1,013.59% and already accounting for more than one‑third of last year’s total fundraising. Voyah Auto is scheduled to list on March 19 by way of introduction, a route that does not involve new share issuance or immediate fundraising and therefore does not affect IPO fundraising totals.

The queue of prospective listings remains substantial. Excluding withdrawn applications, 387 companies remain in line at the Exchange, including 110 A‑share issuers such as Luxshare Precision, Sungrow Power Supply and Shenghong Technology, many of which are large‑cap enterprises. At the New Year market opening ceremony, HKEX Chairman Tang Jiacheng observed that market participants have never been so busy, and he expressed hope that the active market atmosphere will persist through the Year of the Horse.

IPO activity in early 2026 has outpaced the strong momentum seen in 2025. Among the twenty‑four new listings, two A‑share consumer companies each raised more than HKD 10 billion. Muyuan Foods raised HKD 10.684 billion, marking the largest global agricultural IPO so far in 2026, while Eastroc Beverage raised HKD 10.141 billion, the largest Asian beverage offering since 2020. Both deals attracted global cornerstone investors, including major industry groups and leading asset managers such as Charoen Pokphand Group, Wilmar International, Sinochem Hong Kong, Hong Kong Yuenong International, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, Temasek, BlackRock and J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

Investment bankers note that international long‑term investors, particularly sovereign wealth funds, are showing heightened interest in China’s consumer sector. Market participants point to Chinese companies’ competitive strengths in supply‑chain efficiency, product development, channel execution and digital operations as factors that have deepened global investors’ recognition of their core capabilities.

Beyond consumer names, hard‑technology sectors have been major fundraising drivers. Montage Technology, Biren Technology, MINIMAX‑WP, GigaDevice Semiconductor, OmniVision Group and Zhipu each raised more than HKD 5 billion, with respective proceeds of HKD 8.099 billion, HKD 6.42 billion, HKD 5.54 billion, HKD 5.387 billion, HKD 5.317 billion and HKD 5.0 billion. Montage Technology is a domestic leader in memory interconnect chips, Biren Technology is among China’s leading GPU firms, and GigaDevice and OmniVision are established chip‑design companies. MINIMAX‑WP and Zhipu, both focused on large AI models, have achieved market capitalizations above HKD 200 billion despite not yet reporting profitability.

Overall, hard‑technology and consumer issuers dominate the new‑listing cohort, with nineteen IPOs raising more than HKD 1 billion and only one raising less than HKD 100 million. Market reception has been strong: none of the twenty‑four new listings fell below their issue price on debut. By February 25, seven issuers had traded below their offer price, with Hongxing Cold Chain showing the largest decline of 33.50%, trading at HKD 8.18 per share versus an issue price of HKD 12.26. The strongest performers were Zhipu and MINIMAX‑WP, whose latest closing prices were 326.24% and 118.41% above their respective issue prices.

Given the robust start, many institutions expect IPO activity to remain elevated through 2026. UBS projects total fundraising for the year could exceed HKD 300 billion with 150–200 listings, while market observers note that the ultimate fundraising total will depend in part on the scale of A‑share companies choosing to list in Hong Kong.

HKEX is continuing to advance market reforms to enhance competitiveness. Tang Jiacheng said the Exchange will press ahead with multiple initiatives this year, including publishing consultation papers on listing enhancements and T+1 settlement, and implementing a second‑phase narrowing of bid‑ask spreads by mid‑year. Since permitting weighted‑voting‑rights structures in 2018, the Exchange has seen significant market evolution and will review whether existing measures remain aligned with current conditions. HKEX has also responded to speculation about expanding confidential IPO application mechanisms by reaffirming its commitment to optimize market infrastructure and listing arrangements in close cooperation with the Securities and Futures Commission. The SFC stated it will continue to work with HKEX to explore measures that strengthen Hong Kong’s attractiveness as a listing venue.

In addition, Financial Secretary Paul Chan noted in the 2026–2027 budget speech that HKEX has been asked to review listing rules to attract aerospace companies. The government sees Hong Kong as a platform to help mainland aerospace firms access global markets and to provide professional services in research, financing, risk management and legal support, with the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises leading efforts to identify suitable candidates for development in Hong Kong.