HONG KONG - Firms in China brought in half of equity capital raised globally this year so far, setting a record that highlights the economy's earlier revival from the Covid-19 pandemic, plus the degree to which soured US relations are turning Chinese firms homeward.
China was hit by the novel coronavirus in December and was the first country to impose virus-prevention lockdown measures on individual movement and business activity in late January. Markets began their return to normality in April. Escalating Sino-US geopolitical tension over issues such as trade is widely expected to prompt more US-listed Chinese firms to conduct secondary listings closer to home where they can raise funds in markets absent of anti-Chinese sentiment.
"If a company is looking at a secondary listing in Hong Kong, they need to be looking at gathering investors' interest from not only from Asia, but also Europe and the US," Mr Li said.Also of concern for Chinese firms are US steps aimed at improving the transparency of financial disclosure but which clash with the Chinese government's reluctance to give foreign entities access to onshore records.
For some Chinese companies, prestige continues to propel them toward a US listing in spite of political wrangling and negative sentiment toward Chinese firms following fallout from Luckin Coffee.