KPMG says Hong Kong IPO market posts strongest first half in five years

Hong Kong raised HK$209.9 billion through 85 new listings in the first half of 2026, the strongest first-half performance KPMG China has tracked in five years. For KPMG teams, the headline is less about a rebound than about the kind of work now filling the pipeline: bigger dual-listed deals, more specialist technology issuers and more transactions that demand heavy audit, tax and capital-markets support.

The mix of listings shows where the pressure is building. Hong Kong had 24 A+H listings and 13 specialist technology IPOs in the period, and those two categories together accounted for more than 70% of the funds raised. That points to a market dominated by complex, cross-border deals rather than a broad spread of smaller flotations. In practice, that means more work for audit teams on pre-IPO readiness, controls and reporting; more tax structuring and cross-border analysis; and more advisory hours tied to valuation, governance and systems conversion before a company can list.

KPMG’s June 30 mid-year review said global IPO markets completed 530 deals in the first half and raised US$190.9 billion, already ahead of the full-year total for 2025. The firm said the surge was largely driven by SpaceX, which it described as the largest IPO in history at US$86.3 billion and 45% of global first-half proceeds. Nasdaq ranked first globally by proceeds, with Hong Kong second and the New York Stock Exchange third, underscoring how much of the current issuance market is concentrated at the top end.

The Hong Kong numbers also fit a wider pattern KPMG and HKEX have been tracking since the first quarter. HKEX said Hong Kong remained the world’s No. 1 IPO venue in Q1 2026, when 40 listings raised HK$110.4 billion, the second-highest Q1 fundraising volume on record for the exchange. Technology accounted for 55% of those proceeds, and HKEX said eight of the world’s 10 largest TMT IPOs in the quarter were in Hong Kong. HKEX also said six Chapter 18C specialist technology listings came to market in Q1, including MiniMax and Zhipu AI, the first listed large language model companies in the world.

For KPMG staff, that combination of A+H transactions and specialist technology offerings signals a second half that should stay busy across capital markets, audit and deal advisory. KPMG said Hong Kong had more than 500 active IPO applicants, while China’s broader listing environment also improved, with the A-share market raising RMB100.5 billion through 79 deals and the Beijing Stock Exchange raising RMB11.4 billion across 36 listings. The queue is long, the deals are more technical, and the work is likely to stay compressed well into the rest of 2026.