Citic Securities rides Hong Kong’s IPO wave, sponsoring dozens of firms seeking listings
As hedge funds and long-only investors pour into listings, bank’s Hong Kong unit expands to meet demand, head of investment banking says
These days Frank Yu, the head of investment banking at Citic Securities International, juggles back-to-back meetings from morning to evening, a sign of bustling activity in Hong Kong’s capital markets.
A wave of international capital, from hedge funds to long-only investors from Asia, the US and the Middle East, is flowing into initial public offerings (IPOs) and refinancing deals, drawn by the value and quality of Chinese assets.
Hong Kong-headquartered Citic Securities International is a prime beneficiary of the market boom, sponsoring about a third of the companies with IPO applications in the city as of October 7.
“As long as there is potential for profit, international capital is likely to remain interested,” said Yu, who is also a member of the global investment banking management committee at Citic Securities, a Chinese investment bank and parent of Citic Securities International. “The better the quality of the available deals, especially the mega-cap blue chips, the more international capital they’ll attract.”
Citic Securities took the top position for overall investment banking fees in Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, with a total of US$1.06 billion, in the first three quarters of 2025, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).