India, Hong Kong fuel Asia’s blockbuster fundraising year

Not long ago, Hong Kong’s share-sale market was a symbol of China’s slowdown: deal books were thin, investor sentiment was sour and bankers were fleeing the industry.

- DAVE SEBASTIAN & JULIA FIORETTI

This year, the script has flipped.Share sales nearly quadrupled to more than $73 billion through initial public offerings, placements and block trades. For the first time since 2013, that made Hong Kong the number 1 fundraising venue in Asia, ranking just behind the US globally. The city has been at the forefront of a dealmaking boom across the continent that included a record year for IPOs in India and strong activity in mainland China and Japan.

Chinese firms powered much of the frenzy in Hong Kong with outsized deals aimed at funding global expansion. Battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology raised $5.3 billion in the world’s second-largest listing this year, while electric-vehicle maker BYD and electronics giant Xiaomi each raised more than $5 billion in share placements. Deals powered ahead even as the US rolled out tariffs and some transactions faced political scrutiny in Washington.