Country Report Hong Kong June 2011

Economic performance: Large IPOs buoy Hong Kong's financial sector

The buoyancy of Hong Kong's financial services exports partly reflects the territory's success in attracting initial public offerings (IPOs), whether as sole or secondary listings. In May a Swiss-based commodities trader, Glencore, combined a primary listing on the London market in the UK with a secondary listing in Hong Kong at the same time, raising US$10bn. Further IPOs are in the pipeline. A Chinese energy company, Huaneng Renewables, which cancelled an IPO in Hong Kong in December 2010, is planning to list in June 2011, and expects to raise US$800m-1bn. A casino operator in neighbouring Macau, MGM China Holdings, is also planning an IPO in Hong Kong to raise as much as US$1.7bn. An Australian mining firm, Resourcehouse, whose IPO has been repeatedly delayed, is to make a fourth attempt to list in Hong Kong in order to raise up to US$3.6bn. Despite the high-value listings on the IPO calendar, however, Hong Kong's main stockmarket index, the Hang Seng, which closed at 23,199 on May 20th, has struggled to make headway, having drifted downwards from a closing level of 24,007 on April 26th. The market remains well below its all-time high of 31,958 recorded in October 2007.

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