Budget 2022-2023: Hong Kong may tweak listing rules to let large pre-profit or pre-revenue start-ups raise funds, Financial Secretary Paul Chan says

The Hong Kong government has proposed more listing reforms to help pre-profit or pre-revenue start-ups raise funds in the city.

In what may well be its largest such reforms since 2018, the government is also considering introducing more measures to support yuan-denominated shares, green finance and family offices, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his last budget speech for the current term on Wednesday.

“The Securities and Futures Commission [SFC] and [bourse operator] Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing [HKEX] are reviewing the main board listing rules and, having due regard to the risks involved, examining the revision of the listing requirements to meet the fundraising needs of such enterprises,” Chan said.

The proposals could be seen as an extension of the listing reforms introduced in 2018, which allowed technology firms with multiple classes of voting rights and pre-revenue biotechnology firms to list in Hong Kong. As of the end of last month, 70 companies had listed in the city under the new regime, raising more than HK$570 billion (US$73 billion), almost half of all money raised, in the process. The reforms helped the city become the world’s second-largest biotechnology listing centre after Nasdaq.