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

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

Index Rebalance

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baidu-inc-class-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32212:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (9888 HK)</a> converts from a Secondary Listing to an HKEX Dual-Primary Listing on 1 September. That should lead to Southbound Stock Connect inclusion from the open on 7 September.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baidu-inc-class-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32212:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (9888 HK)</a> should be added to the CSI Hong Kong Connect Internet Index at the close on 18 September. That will add to the Southbound buying.</li>
<li>Passive trackers of the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-hang-seng-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22899:1" rel="noopener">HSI INDEX</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-seng-china-enterprises-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22900:1" rel="noopener">HSCEI INDEX</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hang-seng-tech-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31367:1" rel="noopener">HSTECH INDEX</a> and HSIII Index will buy <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baidu-inc-class-a" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:32212:1" rel="noopener">Baidu (9888 HK)</a> at the December rebalance due to an increase in free float.</li>
</ul>



Baidu (9888 HK) converts from a Secondary Listing to an HKEX Dual-Primary Listing on 1 September. That should lead to Southbound Stock Connect inclusion from the open on 7 September.

Baidu (9888 HK) should be added to the CSI Hong Kong Connect Internet Index at the close on 18 September. That will add to the Southbound buying.
Passive trackers of the HSI INDEX, HSCEI INDEX, HSTECH INDEX and HSIII Index will buy Baidu (9888 HK) at the December rebalance due to an increase in free float.


Baidu (9888 HK): Dual Primary Today, Stock Connect Next Week, Then Index Flows

<ul>
<li>There are 5 constituent changes for the CSI Hong Kong Connect Internet Index in June. Plus there are capping changes for some stocks.</li>
<li>A lot of the adds have moved significantly in the last couple of days, so the impact over the next couple of days will be smaller.</li>
<li>There could be opportunities to trade the reversion strategy. Getting borrow may not be easy on some names.</li>
</ul>


There are 5 constituent changes for the CSI Hong Kong Connect Internet Index in June. Plus there are capping changes for some stocks.
A lot of the adds have moved significantly in the last couple of days, so the impact over the next couple of days will be smaller.
There could be opportunities to trade the reversion strategy. Getting borrow may not be easy on some names.


CSI Hong Kong Connect Internet Index Rebalance: 10 Changes & Big Impact

<ul>
<li>Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.</li>
<li>On the IPO front, Hong Kong appears to be heading towards its first US$100m+ IPO for the year.</li>
<li>For placements, after a flurry of placements in the prior week, past week was relatively quiet with only the US$2bn <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/itc-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:327:1" rel="noopener">ITC Ltd (ITC IN)</a> block.</li>
</ul>


Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.
On the IPO front, Hong Kong appears to be heading towards its first US$100m+ IPO for the year.
For placements, after a flurry of placements in the prior week, past week was relatively quiet with only the US$2bn ITC Ltd (ITC IN) block.


ECM Weekly (18th Mar 2024) - ITC, Interglobe (Indigo), MS&AD, GlobalWafer, Belle, Auntea, Trial

APAC IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Clarence Chu

APAC IPOs & Placements

Qunabox Group Limited / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/qunabox-group-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:40967:1" rel="noopener">Qunabox Group Limited (QUNA HK)</a> is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO. The bookrunner on the deal is Haitong.</li>
<li>Qunabox Group Limited (Qunabox) is a marketing service provider in China, focusing on outdoor marketing for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).</li>
<li>As per CIC, the firm was the fifth largest FMCG outdoor marketing service provider in China in terms of 2022 sales, with a market share of 0.9%.</li>
</ul>



Qunabox Group Limited (QUNA HK) is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO. The bookrunner on the deal is Haitong.
Qunabox Group Limited (Qunabox) is a marketing service provider in China, focusing on outdoor marketing for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
As per CIC, the firm was the fifth largest FMCG outdoor marketing service provider in China in terms of 2022 sales, with a market share of 0.9%.


China

Qunabox Group Limited (Qunabox) is a marketing service provider in China, focusing on outdoor marketing for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).

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Qunabox Group Limited (QUNA 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

Baidu (9888 HK): Dual Primary Today, Stock Connect Next Week, Then Index Flows

Buying via Southbound Stock Connect has been slow in Baidu. Mainland investors 'only' hold 32.87m shares (1.19% of shares out). That will receive a...

Brian Freitas

CSI Hong Kong Connect Internet Index Rebalance: 10 Changes & Big Impact

There are 10 constituent changes in June and the flow and impact is pretty large. The adds have outperformed the deletes bigly over the last 2 days...

Brian Freitas

ECM Weekly (18th Mar 2024) - ITC, Interglobe (Indigo), MS&AD, GlobalWafer, Belle, Auntea, Trial

Aequitas Research puts out a weekly update on the deals that were covered by the team recently along with updates for upcoming IPOs.

Sumeet Singh

Qunabox Group Pre-IPO Tearsheet

Qunabox Group Limited (QUNA HK) is looking to raise at least US$100m in its upcoming Hong Kong IPO. The bookrunner on the deal is Haitong.

Clarence Chu

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