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Hong Kong eyes IPO connect to give mainland investors access to deals
The proposed IPO link builds on Stock Connect, which started in 2014 and later expanded, and has been discussed for more than a decade amid prior Beijing regulator resistance.
Hong Kong is seeing an opportunity to advance an IPO connect scheme that would let mainland investors access initial public offerings in the city, according to Pamela Chung Kong-hung, Vistra’s managing director and head of its IPO and Share Registry Services, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Chung said the goal is to improve price discovery and expand the investor capital pool to better match Hong Kong’s large IPO pipeline, adding that a separate “secondary market connect” has operated stably without causing capital outflows.
She framed the current focus as market structure development rather than concerns about capital flight, while noting that Beijing’s earlier connect programs have already linked Hong Kong and mainland markets.
The report said Beijing’s Stock Connect began in 2014 with links between Hong Kong and Shanghai, added Shenzhen in 2016, and has since expanded beyond stocks to bonds, ETFs, wealth management products and swaps, with an IPO connect idea discussed for over a decade but previously resisted by Beijing regulators.