Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>2025 has seen a sharp turnaround in HK placements, with 36 US$100m+ deals so far. This compares to only 14 in 2022, 13 in 2023, and 15 in 2024.</li>
<li>Most of the 2025 placements have been primary raising and have come from a handful of sectors/backdrops.</li>
<li>In this note, we try to identify the possible primary placements that could take place over the rest of the year.</li>
</ul>


2025 has seen a sharp turnaround in HK placements, with 36 US$100m+ deals so far. This compares to only 14 in 2022, 13 in 2023, and 15 in 2024.
Most of the 2025 placements have been primary raising and have come from a handful of sectors/backdrops.
In this note, we try to identify the possible primary placements that could take place over the rest of the year.


Hong Kong 2025 Placements - Year so Far and Trends for Potential Primary Placements

External broker reports(aggregated public sources), CMB International

CMB International

External broker reports(aggregated public sources)

Incorporated in Hong Kong, supported by the mainland and targeting in global market, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited (“CMBI”) is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), by leveraging on the Group’s synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets, as well as CMB’s strong resources and outstanding social reputation, CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and set up an overall layout of main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, Global Markets and Structured Finance, etc. Adhering to the philosophy of “being clients oriented and increasing our own values by the way of creating value for clients”, CMBI endeavors to provide quality and integrated financial services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestic and overseas including Hong Kong IPO sponsorship and underwriting, share placement and rights issue for listed companies, financial advisors, bonds issuance services, asset management, direct investment, wealth management, equity sales and trading, etc.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Cloud Music is on the right track of improving monetization and expanding margin.</li><li>Announced on 1 January, Cloud Music added licensing agreement with the leading Taiwan music label Bin-Music which further enriched its content library and represented another milestone since the end of exclusive licensing.</li><li>We remain bullish on the company’s music subscription business, supported by its enriching content library and rising paying ratio.</li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Cloud Music is on the right track of improving monetization and expanding margin.Announced on 1 January, Cloud Music added licensing agreement with the leading Taiwan music label Bin-Music which further enriched its content library and represented another milestone since the end of exclusive licensing.We remain bullish on the company’s music subscription business, supported by its enriching content library and rising paying ratio.Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

Cloud Music (9899 HK) – Solid core music business outlook on enriching content library

<ul><li>NetEase Cloud Music reported 1H25 results: total revenue declined by 6% YoY to RMB3.83bn; adjusted operating profit grew by 35% YoY to RMB905mn, which is equivalent to 57% of our full-year earnings estimates, mainly thanks to the improved music monetization, solid GPM expansion and S&amp;M expenses control.</li><li>We expect GPM expansion and efficiency gains to continue in 2H25/FY26.</li><li>The company’s GPM/S&amp;M expense ratio (36%/4% in 1H25) still have room to improve, compared to that of TME (44%/3%), especially in a stable competitive environment like China’s online music sector. </li></ul>Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

NetEase Cloud Music reported 1H25 results: total revenue declined by 6% YoY to RMB3.83bn; adjusted operating profit grew by 35% YoY to RMB905mn, which is equivalent to 57% of our full-year earnings estimates, mainly thanks to the improved music monetization, solid GPM expansion and S&amp;M expenses control.We expect GPM expansion and efficiency gains to continue in 2H25/FY26.The company’s GPM/S&amp;M expense ratio (36%/4% in 1H25) still have room to improve, compared to that of TME (44%/3%), especially in a stable competitive environment like China’s online music sector. Content is external broker report sourced from online content aggregator through publicly available sources and is displayed below for general informational purposes only. Refer full disclaimer below.

NetEase Cloud Music (9899 HK) - Earnings Beat on Strong Music Business and Enhanced Efficiency

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal, DZT Research

Ke Yan, CFA, FRM

Asia Pac ECM and Index Rebal

Asia Pac IPO & Placement Research, China Biotech

DZT Research

DZT Research is an independent Asia Pacific equity specialist. Our quantitative research covers index rebalancing flows, alongside exchange data analytics accross Asia Pacific. On the equity capital markets side, we focus on Asia Pacific ECM, especially biotech and TMT. Our lead analyst is frequently cited by international media.

Index Rebalance

Yangtze Optical Fibre & Cable / Index Rebalance

Yangtze Optical Fibre & Cable (601869 CH)

<ul>
<li>MSCI announced the quarterly review results on 12 May 2026. As the cycle enters implementation, this note updates the stock setup.</li>
<li>ADD weakness is broad, with CH Mid-vel and CH Low-vel both failing to build bridge support.</li>
<li>DELETEs already sold off, but HK High-vel DELETE still has the weakest first-week implementation profile.</li>
</ul>


MSCI announced the quarterly review results on 12 May 2026. As the cycle enters implementation, this note updates the stock setup.
ADD weakness is broad, with CH Mid-vel and CH Low-vel both failing to build bridge support.
DELETEs already sold off, but HK High-vel DELETE still has the weakest first-week implementation profile.


MS-China June 2026 Rebalance: Pre-Implementation Update

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Periscope Analytics

Periscope Analytics focuses on event-driven trades across Asia Pacific and provides comprehensive, timely and systematic coverage of index changes to major Asia Pacific indices in a structured manner.

The analysis includes forecasted inclusions and exclusions to all major Asian indices that have significant amount of tracking assets, including estimates of passive buy/sell flow on the stocks. The service also provides commentary and impact of market consultations, ground rule changes, and other events (IPOs, spin-offs, M&A) that could lead to index changes and passive flow.

Periscope Analytics works with multi-strategy hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, stat arb trading groups and long-only investors that invest and trade in the Asia Pacific region with the data being used to trade index rebalances, avoid pre-positioning and passive flow, and to time entry into and exit from stocks.

Event-Driven Trades Across Asia Pacific

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cloud-village-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33412:1" rel="noopener">Cloud Village (9899 HK)</a>'s stock price has doubled over the last quarter and the increased market cap should lead to global index inclusion in August. </li>
<li>Short interest in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cloud-village-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33412:1" rel="noopener">Cloud Village (9899 HK)</a> is at an all-time high and has increased in lockstep with the stock price.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/cloud-village-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:33412:1" rel="noopener">Cloud Village (9899 HK)</a> has outperformed <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tencent-music-entertainment-group" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:36601:1" rel="noopener">Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698 HK)</a> and now trades at much higher valuations. A pair trade looks attractive here.</li>
</ul>



Cloud Village (9899 HK)'s stock price has doubled over the last quarter and the increased market cap should lead to global index inclusion in August. 
Short interest in Cloud Village (9899 HK) is at an all-time high and has increased in lockstep with the stock price.

Cloud Village (9899 HK) has outperformed Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698 HK) and now trades at much higher valuations. A pair trade looks attractive here.


Netease Cloud Music (9899 HK): Stock Up; Short Interest Up; Global Index Inclusion

China

NetEase Cloud Music operates as one of China's leading online music platforms, offering music streaming, membership subscriptions, digital music sales, and social entertainment services including live streaming and online karaoke. It provides an interactive content community for music enthusiasts with personalized recommendations. The company is headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and was launched in 2013.

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NetEase Cloud Music (9899 HK)

Hong Kong 2025 Placements - Year so Far and Trends for Potential Primary Placements

1H25 saw a sharp turnaround in HK placements, with 36 US$100m+ deals so far. This compares to only 14 in 2022, 13 in 2023, and 15 in 2024. In this...

Sumeet Singh

Cloud Music (9899 HK) – Solid core music business outlook on enriching content library

Announced on 1 January, Cloud Music added licensing agreement with the leading Taiwan music label Bin-Music which further enriched its content...

CMB International