Hong Kong, India fuel mega year for Asia fundraising

Not long ago, Hong Kong’s share-sale market was a symbol of China’s slowdown:

- Bloomberg

Deal books were thin, investor sentiment was sour and bankers were fleeing the industry.This year, the script has flipped.

Share sales nearly quadrupled to more than $73 billion through initial public offerings (IPOs), placements and block trades. For the first time since 2013, that made Hong Kong the No. 1 fundraising spot in Asia, ranking just behind the US globally. The city has been at the front of a dealmaking boom across the continent that included a record year for IPOs in India, and strong markets in mainland China and Japan.

In Hong Kong, Chinese companies fueled the frenzy with gargantuan deals to power their global expansion plans. Battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. raised $5.3 billion in the world’s second-largest listing in May. Electric-vehicle maker BYD Co. and EV-to-smartphones giant Xiaomi Corp. also raised more than $5 billion each in share placements. Deals even powered ahead as the US rolled out tariffs, and some faced pushback from US politicians.