Hong Kong looks for listings outside China
16 March 2007
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is beginning to look outside the mainland for new listings, knowing that the steady stream of China companies whose Hong Kong IPOS have kept it strong may dry up with the rise of the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges. "No one in my position would expect it would be H-shares forever," the head of the stock exchange Ronald Arculli told the Wall Street Journal. The exchange has moved to issue simplified guidelines for foreign companies and is looking to lure business from South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and elsewhere in the region. But the road may be steep, the newspaper reported. It may be difficult to convince companies to list far from home and it is not easy to determine how much interest Hong Kong retail investors would have in non-China share issues.