Hong Kong slips in IPO rankings as US exchanges benefit from Uber and Lyft

The NYSE has been ranked the top exchange for IPO proceeds in the first five months of the year, followed by Nasdaq and knocking Hong Kong into third place, according to data from Refinitiv.

The NYSE raised around $15.9 bn – 28 percent of the global IPO market – between January 1 and June 6, helped by Uber’s $8.1 bn listing in May, the data provider shows.

Nasdaq, with listings raising slightly more than $11 bn, also benefitted from the IPO of its own ride-hailing mega-listing in the form of Lyft, which raised $2.3 bn in March.

Hong Kong, which saw no mega-deals in the first five months of the year, raised $7.7 bn, pushing it into third place. While the city’s main board has no doubt been hit by US-China trade tensions, recent weeks have seen reports that Alibaba is considering a follow-on listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, rumored to be worth as much as $20 bn. 

The bourse lost out to Nasdaq on the Chinese e-commerce giant when it went public in 2014, raising $25 bn. It had opted for Nasdaq over Hong Kong as it was looking to list with a dual-class share structure, something the Hong Kong bourse did not allow at the time but has since changed its rules to allow. 

Data from London-based financial analytics firm Dealogic in December showed that Hong Kong had narrowly clipped the NYSE to take the crown for most money raised in 2018.

Shanghai was the fourth-largest IPO market worldwide to June 6, raising $3.9 bn, according to Refinitiv. It is followed by London at $2.3 bn.