Securities regulators in Hong Kong and mainland China are doubling down on efforts to raise the quality of Hong Kong initial public offerings (IPOs), which could slow the flow of new listings but would not reduce underlying demand, according to analysts.
In an unusual move, the China Securities Regulatory Commission recently asked nine mainland companies, which had already been pre-approved for listings, to provide supplementary materials detailing fund usage, shareholding structures and pending litigation.
Hong Kong’s market watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), on Thursday directed the city’s bourse operator to suspend trading of US-based biotech firm Cloudbreak Pharma, explicitly expressing concerns that the company’s IPO could have been “rigged” to create an artificial impression of demand.