Hong Kong climbed to the top of the global league table for initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2009 and 2010, raising $57.4bn last year. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) enjoys the clear advantage of the vast funding requirements of mainland Chinese companies, which are increasingly keen to tap the markets for growth capital. On the investor demand side, the region's pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and asset managers are rapidly accumulating assets, with many of these seeking local opportunities or, in some cases, required to hold domestic assets.
"As of year end 2010, Asian institutional investors held $1600bn in assets, which is roughly a 7% share of the global asset pool managed by institutions," says Arun Bansal, managing director and head of financial strategy for Asia-Pacific at Citi in Hong Kong. "This share represents a four-fold increase over levels seen only five years ago and these investors show a certain comfort with and preference for investing within their home region."
