Cheers to Hong Kong H shares on their first 30 years
- In 1993, Tsingtao Brewery celebrated an unusual Hong Kong initial public offering and a gigantic step for the nation’s capital markets with glasses of beer
The day a company lists its stock is usually celebrated with a champagne toast. But three decades ago, the VIPs at a highly unusual initial public offering were served beer.
Hong Kong’s stock exchange bosses were not being cheap. Exactly 30 years ago, the city had its first listing of a H share in Hong Kong.
Tsingtao Brewery took that first step for Chinese capitalism. The rest, as they say, is history.
The IPO by the Chinese brewery, founded by German settlers in 1903 in Qingdao, raised HK$889 million, a minnow by today’s standards. But it was a gigantic step in the reforms of the nation’s capital markets.
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HKEX CEO Nicolas Aguzin on the future of Hong Kong’s capital market
Given its status as an international financial hub, Hong Kong was naturally picked as the testing ground for a new class of investment called H shares to raise capital. The city had all the ingredients in place: an open financial system, common law judiciary, a fully convertible currency, and auditing and related financial services that met international standards.
And the handover of sovereignty was just four years away.
Fast forward 30 years. Today, Hong Kong is more relevant than ever before in connecting China’s capital market with the rest of the world.
When Chinese state-owned enterprises faced regulatory hurdles in allowing foreign investors, Hong Kong facilitated so-called red chips to raise funds. When foreign investors could not directly access the yuan-denominated A shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen, Hong Kong created the so-called Connect cross-border investment channels for foreign money to trade in China, and Chinese money to dabble in Hong Kong-listed stocks.
Three decades after Tsingtao blazed the trail, Chinese companies account for about 80 per cent of the local stock exchange’s total capitalisation.
Former HKEX boss Paul Chow, the man behind H shares listing, has died
The reforms do not end there. The local exchange now allows companies to quote their stocks in dual currencies – typically Hong Kong dollars and renminbi.
That enables Chinese investors to buy the stock of a Hong Kong-listed company in yuan via accounts held in Shanghai, all without incurring forex losses. The ease of investment is a big attraction for companies that raise capital in the city.
Cheers to Tsingtao, a most fortuitous choice. After all, then as now, who doesn’t like a nice chilled beer?
