Hong Kong: $47.5 billion raised on the stock market in the third quarter, a record driven by AI

IPOs, placements and block sales reached an unprecedented level from July to September, despite the decline in the markets, with Alibaba, Zhongji Innolight and Z.AI leading the way.

Hong Kong's bankers did not take a holiday this summer. According to data compiled by Bloomberg and reported by China Daily, IPOs, placements and block sales brought in $47.5 billion between July and September, an unprecedented amount for this time of year. Since January, the total has exceeded $92 billion, within reach of the annual record of $112.5 billion set in 2021, while the market's shares were falling.

AI companies that keep coming back to the counter

The largest deal of the quarter was Alibaba's capital increase ($10.2 billion), while Zhongji Innolight completed Hong Kong's largest IPO in almost seven years with nearly $8 billion. Model developer Z.AI has raised $9.6 billion since the beginning of the year between its IPO, investments and convertible bonds. MiniMax and chipmakers Iluvatar CoreX and Biren also came back to investors as soon as their lock-up period ended. For Goldman Sachs, companies now return to the market a few months after a lift, instead of waiting one to two years.

Across Asia-Pacific, equity issuance exceeded $120 billion in the quarter, a six-year high, including the introduction of Chinese memory maker CXMT ($9.9 billion). Banks note, however, that bond yield hikes and the poor performance of several stocks after their listings are making investors more selective as the end of the year approaches.