HK favored for mainland tech IPOs to list

EIGHT firms, including several Chinese tech startups, started trading in the Hong Kong market yesterday, cementing the city as a destination for mainland technology initial public offerings.

Inke, a live streaming service provider, Qeeka, an online home decoration platform and game developer Zhijian-Yd are among the firms.

Inke, which has grown quickly during China’s live streaming frenzy since 2016, closed at HK$4.65 (59 US cents) in its first trading day yesterday, up 10.65 percent from the IPO price. Qeeka, however, tumbled 6.39 percent to close at HK$4.54 yesterday.

On Monday, Xiaomi become the first listed firm in Hong Kong to sell shares with a dual-class structure after the city changed listing rules to allow company founders to keep outsized voting rights.

Shares of Xiaomi, which was valued at US$54.3 billion in its IPO, fell 6 percent from its IPO price of HK$17 on its debut in Hong Kong on Monday. But Xiaomi rebounded by 1.37 percent to close at HK$19.26 yesterday.

Hong Kong is now a popular destination for technology IPOs from the mainland and in the past two years, the market has seen IPOs from online health care platform Ping An Good Doctor, game gadget vendor Razer, online car-financing provider Yixin Group and online finance payment service provider ChinaPnR.

Internet giant Meituan-Dianping, online education platform Hujiang and online housing platform E-House all have plans to list in Hong Kong.