Hong Kong Stock Exchange Sees High IPO Demand After Rule Changes

(Bloomberg) -- New rules for initial public offerings in Hong Kong have helped boost applications, according to the head of the city’s stock exchange.

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Charles Li expects a “very substantial autumn” for IPOs, he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Friday. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. was the first to file for a listing under the new regime, kicking off what could be the world’s biggest debut since 2014.

“We see a pretty healthy pipeline,” Li said. “People are getting ready to file, people are lining up, I do see in the coming weeks and months dozens will potentially put the application in.”

Technology companies that give founders and executives more voting rights are now allowed to go public in the former British colony after a major rule change took effect on Monday. Biotechnology firms that don’t have revenues or profits can also now list.

Li spoke after Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co. traded for the first time. Shares of Good Doctor, as the company is known, rose to HK$55.30 at 11:23 a.m. local time after pricing at HK$54.80 in its IPO, which raised $1.1 billion.

Xiaomi’s planned IPO is expected to raise at least $10 billion, which could value the eight-year-old company as much at $100 billion.

To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Robertson in Hong Kong at brobertson29@bloomberg.net, Stephen Engle in Beijing at sengle1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert

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