Data on equity capital market activity for the first half of this year published by Dealogic shows that new listings on HKEX surged to US$12.8bn compared to US$1.8bn in the same period last year, while equity capital market deals on Indian exchanges jumped from US$7.4bn in Q1 to US$15.8bn in Q2.
Asia was the second largest region for deal volume, which increased from US$103.8bn in the first six months of 2024 to US$114.5bn.
However, some markets are performing better than others. Local reports suggest US tariffs deterred South Korean chip materials maker OCI Holdings from listing a subsidiary in Malaysia, while South Korean home appliance manufacturer Cuckoo Holdings’s Malaysian subsidiary pushed a planned listing back to Q226.
Malaysian markets were the ‘best of the rest’ with discount retailer Eco-Shop Marketing raising approximately US$226m. Indonesian real estate firm Bangun Kosambi Sukses also completed a nine-figure IPO in the first half of the year.
The region’s top three new listings in Q2 were all maiden share offers in Hong Kong by companies already traded in China: Contemporary Amperex Technology (US$5.3bn), Foshan Haitian Flavoring (US$1.29bn) and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (US$1.26bn).
Both Dai Hongbin, Deputy Chairman Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals and Contemporary Amperex Technology’s Chairman and CEO, Robin Zeng, described their IPOs as a key step in entering international capital markets.
Outside of Hong Kong and India, Virgin Australia’s ASX relisting is another positive development in a market where IPOs have traditionally been hard to time correctly and execute successfully.
This public offering had a slightly different objective to other listings in that it was designed primarily to facilitate a change of ownership rather than to raise capital (Bain Capital, which acquired the company after it was delisted in 2020, saw its stake reduced to just under 40%).
“The business is well-capitalised and in a really good position for what it needs,” says Mike Murphy, Senior Partner at Bain Capital. “But having access to capital in the future is pretty attractive.”
The early rise in the value of the airline’s shares post-listing was welcomed by Anthony Wilson, Head of Equities at Shaw and Partners, who described it as a positive indicator for other companies looking to go public on the ASX. “This goes a long way in pushing the door open for additional IPOs this calendar year,” he says.
Measures encouraging leading Chinese companies to list in Hong Kong and streamlined listing applications for A-shares listed companies, together with improved market valuations, liquidity and capital absorption capacity, have added momentum to the Hong Kong IPO market, suggests Robert Lui, Southern Region Offering Services Leader of Deloitte China Capital Markets Services Group.
According to Frank Bi, Asia Head of Corporate Transactions at Ashurst, US-listed Chinese companies that are not yet dual-listed are likely to be more proactive in considering listings in Hong Kong. “There remains significant uncertainty surrounding the geopolitical situation and any recent easing of tensions may prove to be only temporary,” he says.
The uncertainty of the China-US relationship creates demand for Hong Kong secondary listings as insurance, agrees Charlie Chen, Managing Director and Head of Asia Research at China Renaissance.
Unlike in 2024 – when the Asian equity-linked bond market was dominated by a small number of mega deals – Q2 2025 saw greater deal size diversity, with five transactions from Asian issuers sized at US$1bn or more.
These included a US$1.5bn offering from Grab (the US-listed ride-hailing platform often described as Southeast Asia’s Uber) and a US$1.5bn offering by Hong Kong-listed Ping An Insurance.
