HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s two-year fundraising boom is slowing, with the rate of abandoned stock listings spiking to the highest since the global financial crisis.
In 2026, about one in four deals didn’t reach completion, the most since the 2008 meltdown pushed the rate to four in 10, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Several companies, including robotics firm Changzhou Microintelligence Co and software developer Shenzhen Forms Syntron Information Co, recently pulled deals that had already launched.
A wave of fundraising by mostly Chinese companies along the artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain has pushed Hong Kong listings proceeds above US$50bil in 2026 for just the third time in history.
But dealmaking has slowed in the past three months as investors turned more cautious toward AI bets, stocks struggled, and the city’s regulator stepped up a crackdown on suspected market distortions.
“Hong Kong’s initial public offering (IPO) window is not closing – smaller mainland issuers are simply discovering that a discounted H-share sale can raise too little capital to justify the dilution, fees and liquidity risk,” said Sat Duhra, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.
“Global capital crowds into larger, more liquid companies with visible earnings and a credible international story.”
Companies completed 17 debuts in August to October, the fewest for a three-month period since February 2025 to April 2025, Bloomberg-compiled data show.
Even the listings that proceeded showed signs of strain: Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co, which had the city’s 10th billion-dollar deal of the year, cut raised less than half of what it had sought earlier.
In total, at least 78 companies have postponed, withdrawn or allowed to lapse listing plans since the start of 2026, compared with about three per year for the past decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Investment firm GLP Pte deferred its plan for an IPO to raise about US$2bil to next year, International Financing Review reported.
Forms Syntron, which sought to raise around US$120mil postponed its the listing because of factors including “prevailing market conditions”.
Changzhou Microintelligence cited the same rationale for halting a US$102mil deal. Marquee deals are also impacted.
A potential US$2bil IPO of Baidu Inc’s AI chip unit Kunlunxin may now slip into next year, people familiar with the matter have said.
Syngenta Group’s listing is also reportedly likely to be completed in 2027. The company confidentially filed for an offering to raise about US$5bil, it was reported.
Some of the slowdown may be attributed to the relentless pace of dealmaking in the past two years, with US$88bil raised by listings since the start of 2025, the most since 2020 to 2021.
Global events like the US mid-term elections and Anthropic PBC’s blockbuster offering are also having an impact on the deal flow, according to Aloke Gupte, the co-head of equity capital markets at Citigroup Inc, which led global IPO underwriting this year through the end of September.
Chinese authorities are also keeping a close eye on the deal flow as the stock market struggles. Beijing is tightening scrutiny of publicly traded companies spinning off units for separate listings. — Bloomberg
