Since the end of last year, listings in Hong Kong have continued to heat up.

According to Wind, since December 2024, 12 A-share listed companies have disclosed their plans to list in Hong Kong, involving a market value of 2 trillion yuan.

A-share listed companies that plan to go public in Hong Kong since December last year are taking stock of the map/Shell financial reporter Zhu Yueyi

Among the 12 companies, 7 are listed in Shanghai, 5 are listed in Shenzhen, and in terms of listing boards, 4 are from the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, 3 are from the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, 2 are from the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and 3 are from the Growth Enterprise Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The industries to which the company belongs are more diverse, scattered in many industries such as pharmaceuticals, food, auto parts, industrial machinery, semiconductors, etc.

Cartography/Shell Financial Reporter Zhu Yueyi

Shell financial reporters paid attention to the fact that half of the above-mentioned enterprises belong to specialized and special new enterprises. In terms of scale and style, large-cap growth companies accounted for 6, another 3 belonged to the large-cap balanced type, 1 belonged to the large-cap value type, and 2 belonged to the mid-cap growth type.

From the perspective of listing time, the A-share listing of the four companies has been less than 3 years, and the youngest of them, Longsys, was listed in August 2022.

When describing the purpose of listing in Hong Kong, "internationalization" and "globalization" became the key words. Shell financial reporters paid attention to the fact that many companies mentioned that they hoped to enhance the company's international brand and image through listing in Hong Kong and further improve the company's comprehensive competitiveness. For example, JA Solar (002459. SZ) mentioned that the listing in Hong Kong can accelerate the company's market, supply chain, R&D trinity of globalization, Joyson Electronics (600699. SH) mentioned that the listing in Hong Kong can meet the company's global development needs in the field of smart cars, and further promote the company's global strategic layout of "business + capital" linkage.

There are also several companies aiming to land on the Stock Exchange to open up the imagination space for business and capital. For example, Hehui Optoelectronics-U (688538.SH), which is mainly engaged in semiconductor display panels, specifically mentioned in the announcement that its listing in Hong Kong will help "increase the production capacity ratio of the company's high-end AMOLED panel products". Fengyi Technology (688279. SH) mentioned that the listing in Hong Kong will enable the company to make better use of the international capital market, optimize the capital structure and shareholder composition, broaden diversified financing channels, and help the company's sustainable development and management.

Why have Hong Kong stocks become a popular destination for A-share listed companies?

Wang Jie, a senior partner at Dentons, told Shell Finance that Hong Kong, as an international financial center, can provide a global capital operation platform for enterprises. Through the listing of Hong Kong stocks, leading enterprises can directly attract global capital and strategic investors to help them build global factories and compete for global market share. In addition, the fundraising of Hong Kong stocks can replenish foreign exchange reserves, meet the investment needs of euros and US dollars, and reduce the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.

"In 2024, the review of A-share IPOs will become stricter and the fundraising speed will slow down, prompting companies to turn to Hong Kong stocks." Wang Jie said that companies such as Zhengli New Energy and Haichen Energy Storage turned to Hong Kong stocks after encountering obstacles in A-share listing, and the relatively relaxed review process of Hong Kong stocks (such as no profit threshold) and shorter listing cycle have become key advantages.

Wang Jie believes that the Hong Kong stock market has a high degree of recognition for the new energy industry, and allows the structure of weighted voting rights to attract emerging technology companies. In addition, the Hong Kong IPO market will pick up in 2024, and improved liquidity will become an important attraction.

"Judging from the subsequent trend, the focus of funds may shift from technology stocks to value stocks. In the long run, the bull market in Hong Kong stocks will continue further. Chen Guo, chief strategy officer of China Securities Securities, pointed out that the recent Hong Kong stock market is mainly catalyzed by the industry, and the birth of DeepSeek has promoted China's AI industry to a new stage. Since the end of January, the Hong Kong stock market has begun to rebound rapidly, led by the technology sector. In terms of capital structure, the short-term impact of foreign capital is strong, and the southbound continuation of stable and continuous inflows will become the main source of long-term incremental funds in the Hong Kong stock market.

Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter Zhu Yueyi