China: A Capital Markets: Debt & Equity (PRC Firms) Overview

Annual Review of A-Share and Hong Kong IPO Markets: From 2025 to 2026

IPO market in A-shares

Annual review of the A-share market (2025)

In 2025, 116 companies completed listings on the A-share market. By listing board, these comprised 33 on the ChiNext Board, 26 on the Beijing Stock Exchange, 23 on the Shanghai Main Board, 19 on the STAR Market, and 15 on the Shenzhen Main Board.

The A-share IPO market in 2025 primarily deepened the multi-tier market reform through institutional innovations, further enhancing support and adaptability for technology and innovation-oriented enterprises, presenting the characteristics of “improving quality and efficiency while embracing innovation”.

• Deepening STAR Market Reforms and Implementation of the “1+6” Policy Framework: In July 2025, the STAR Market introduced reform measures centred on “establishing a Sci-Tech Growth Layer”. It resumed and expanded the application scope of the fifth set of listing criteria, extending it from the biopharmaceutical sector to frontier technology industries like artificial intelligence, commercial aerospace, and the low-altitude economy. It also implemented differentiated regulatory requirements and offline placement mechanisms for unprofitable listed companies, guiding more long-term institutional investors to participate in pricing. This provides a more inclusive listing pathway for high-growth innovative enterprises.
• ChiNext Board Institutional Innovation and Opening a Channel for Unprofitable Listings: In June 2025, the ChiNext Board formally activated listing criteria for unprofitable enterprises, marking a substantive step in supporting technology and innovation companies in critical growth phases that have not yet achieved profitability, reflecting a more targeted service approach for the board.
• Focused Review Direction and Fully Serving National Strategy: The industry sectors of listed companies were further tilted towards areas of “new quality productive forces”. The number of applicant companies in hard tech and advanced manufacturing sectors like semiconductors, high-end equipment, new energy, and new materials consistently ranked at the forefront. This also effectively guides social capital towards key core technology fields, supporting the high-quality development of the real economy.

Annual outlook for the A-share market (2026)

• Strengthened Regulation Remains the Core Focus of IPO Work: As the registration-based IPO reform deepens, the regulatory logic comprehensively presents the characteristics of “emphasising quality and strengthening compliance”. Compliance thresholds for core areas such as corporate governance, information disclosure, financial internal controls, and intermediary responsibilities will be systematically raised. Compliance will become the “lifeline” for a company’s successful listing and sustainable development.
• Continuing to Leverage the Capital Market’s Key Role in Supporting Technological Innovation: The A-share market will further strengthen its function as a hub serving technological innovation, guiding the efficient aggregation of capital, talent, and technology towards national strategic areas like hard tech and new quality productive forces. The capital market will no longer be just a financing platform but will become a crucial ecosystem node driving industrial upgrading and incubating future industries.
• Multi-Tier Market Still Exhibiting a Pattern of “Differentiated Positioning and Co-Ordinated Development”: The Beijing Stock Exchange will continue to focus on innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and is expected to maintain its lead in the number of companies in queue and listings. The STAR Market will highlight its “hard-tech” features, with multiple innovative measures applicable to more enterprises. The ChiNext Board will further support growth-oriented innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises with high potential, while emphasising risk resistance and growth requirements. The Main Boards will remain positioned for mature industry leaders, highlighting industrial representativeness. These boards will form a capital market ecosystem characterised by complementary functions and full life cycle coverage for enterprises.
• External Factors Influencing the IPO Market Becoming More Multidimensional and Complex: Companies planning for an IPO should closely monitor multidimensional external factors such as the industrial environment, sector prosperity, and trade frictions. They should conduct detailed research in advance and make targeted, thorough preparations based on their specific industry segments.

Hong Kong IPO market

Annual review of the Hong Kong market (2025)

• Fundraising Scale Returns to Global Forefront and Chinese Institutions Dominate Market Structure: In 2025, the total funds raised through IPOs on the Hong Kong Exchange amounted to approximately HKD286 billion (a surge from HKD83 billion in 2024), reclaiming the forefront among major global exchanges after a six-year gap. Chinese investment banks maintained a leading market share in sponsor business, reshaping Hong Kong’s IPO ecosystem and dynamics.
• Chinese Mainland Companies as the Absolute Mainstay and A+H Model Drives Core Growth: Chinese Mainland companies accounted for over 90% of new listings. Nineteen A-share companies listed in Hong Kong via the “A+H” dual-listing model, raising a combined HKD140 billion, constituting nearly half of the market’s total fundraising.
• Industry Focus on Technology Innovation and System Optimisation Builds a Favourable Ecosystem: New listings concentrated in the technology and innovation sectors, with many companies focusing on frontier technologies, reflecting the Hong Kong stock market’s appeal and inclusiveness to innovative firms.

Annual outlook for the Hong Kong market (2026)

Looking ahead to 2026, whether the Hong Kong market can sustain its previous activity level remains to be tested under the interplay of multiple internal and external factors:

• Facing External Challenges from Global Liquidity “Siphoning Effect”: 2026 may see international markets host ultra-large-scale tech company IPOs, which could divert international liquidity away from markets like Hong Kong, affecting the overall valuation levels and trading activity of the Hong Kong market.
• The growth prospects for the global and major economies, improvements in corporate profitability, and investment confidence in 2026 will be key determinants of whether raised funds can be effectively translated into corporate growth momentum.
• Seeking Structural Opportunities Amid Uncertainty: The multidimensional and complex factors of the international capital market will add more uncertainty to the market, affecting cross-border capital flows and risk appetite, subsequently impacting Hong Kong’s market valuation system and financing environment. The interplay of these external variables requires market participants to possess stronger risk identification and response capabilities.

In addition, recent strengthened regulatory actions by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) targeting IPO sponsors signal a clear shift in the Hong Kong market’s regulatory logic to “quality and responsibility-first”. Against the backdrop of a recovery in IPO numbers and fundraising size in 2025 and sponsor business concentration among a few firms, regulators employed forceful measures such as mandatory comprehensive reviews, thematic inspections, hard constraints on resource allocation, and suspension of applications. These actions directly address structural issues like insufficient sponsor due diligence, manpower imbalances, and the practice of “trading quality for speed”. This round of rectification sends a clear signal: Hong Kong’s IPO market is transitioning into a phase of deep standardisation. Future emphasis will be more on accurate disclosure, professional capability, and resource adequacy. This may suppress listing pace in the short term but will help solidify the market’s credibility foundation in the medium to long term.

A股&港股IPO市场年度观察：从2025到2026

A股IPO市场

A股市场年度观察（2025）

2025年，A股市场共有116家公司完成上市。从上市板块分布看，创业板33家、北交所26家、沪主板23家、科创板19家、深主板15家。

2025年A股IPO市场主要通过制度创新深化了多层次市场改革，进一步增强了对科技创新企业的支持力度与适配性，呈现了“提质增效、包容创新”的特征：

• 科创板改革深化，“1+6”政策体系落地。2025年7月，科创板推出以“设立科创成长层”为核心的改革措施，重启并扩大第五套上市标准的适用范围，从原有的生物医药领域拓展至人工智能、商业航天、低空经济等前沿科技行业，并对未盈利上市公司实施差异化监管要求与网下配售机制，引导更多长期机构投资者参与定价，为高成长性创新企业提供更包容的上市路径。
• 创业板制度创新，未盈利上市通道打通。2025年6月，创业板正式启用针对未盈利企业的上市标准，标志着创业板在支持处于关键成长期、暂未实现盈利的科技创新企业方面迈出实质性步伐，体现了板块服务的精准化。
• 审核导向聚焦，全力服务国家战略。上市企业所处行业领域进一步向“新质生产力”产业倾斜，半导体、高端装备、新能源、新材料等硬科技与先进制造业的申报企业数量持续位居前列，同时也有效引导社会资本投向关键核心技术领域，助力实体经济高质量发展。

A股市场年度前瞻（2026）

• 强监管仍是IPO工作的核心关注点。伴随注册制改革走向纵深，监管逻辑全面呈现了“重质量、强合规”特点，公司治理、信息披露、财务内控、中介责任等核心环节的合规门槛将被系统性抬升，合规将成为企业上市及基业长青的“生命线”。
• 资本市场将继续发挥支持科技创新的关键枢纽作用。A股市场将进一步强化其服务科技创新的枢纽功能，引导资本、人才、技术向硬科技、新质生产力等国家战略领域高效聚集。资本市场不仅是融资平台，更将成为推动产业升级、孵化未来产业的关键生态节点。
• 多层次市场仍将呈现“差异化定位、协同发展”格局。北交所将持续聚焦创新型中小企业，预计将继续在排队与上市企业数量上保持领先；科创板凸显“硬科技”特色，多项创新措施将适用于更多企业；创业板将进一步支持有发展潜力的成长型创新创业企业，同时也将更强调企业抗风险能力和成长性要求；主板则继续定位于成熟型行业龙头，突出行业代表性。前述板块形成功能互补、企业发展周期覆盖全面的资本市场生态。
• 对IPO市场形成影响的外部因素更为多维复杂。拟IPO企业应密切关注产业环境、行业景气、贸易摩擦等多维外部因素，提前进行详细研究，并根据细分产业有针对性地做好充分准备工作。

港股IPO市场

港股市场年度观察（2025）

• 募资规模重返全球榜首，中资机构主导市场格局。2025年，香港交易所首次公开募资总额约2860亿港元（相比2024年830亿港元的水平大幅跃升），时隔六年后重回全球主要交易所前列，中资投资银行保荐业务市场份额领先，重塑港股发行生态与规则。
• 内地企业成为绝对主力，A+H模式贡献核心增量。内地企业新上市公司数量占比超过九成，19家A股公司以“A+H”两地上市模式登陆港股，合计融资约1400亿港元，占市场总融资规模近半。
• 行业分布聚焦科技创新，制度优化构建友好生态。新上市公司集中于科技创新领域，亦有众多专注于前沿科技的企业，反映了港股市场对创新企业的吸引力和包容性。

港股市场年度前瞻（2026）

展望2026年，港股市场能否延续此前的活跃态势，仍有待在多重内外因素交织作用下接受检验：

• 面临全球流动性“虹吸效应”的外部挑战。2026年美股等国际市场或迎来超大规模科技公司IPO，可能从港股等市场分流国际流动性，需关注对港股市场整体估值水平和交易活跃度的影响。
• 2026年全球及主要经济体的增长前景、企业盈利能力的改善以及投资信心，将是决定融资能否有效转化为企业成长动力的关键。
• 在不确定性中寻求结构性机遇。影响国际资本市场的多维复杂因素将为市场增添更多不确定性，在影响跨国资本流动与风险偏好的同时，进而波及港股市场的估值体系与融资环境。这些外部变量相互交织，要求市场参与者具备更强的风险识别与应对能力。

此外，近期香港证监会重拳整顿IPO保荐人，标志着港股市场监管逻辑已明确转向“质量与责任优先”。在2025年IPO数量与募资规模回升、保荐业务集中于少数机构的背景下，监管层通过限期全面检讨、主题视察、资源配置硬约束及暂停审理等强力措施，直指保荐人尽职调查不足、人手失衡与“以量换速”的结构性问题。这一轮整顿释放出清晰信号：港股IPO正迈入深度规范期，未来将更强调真实披露、专业能力与资源匹配，短期或对上市节奏形成压制，但中长期有助于夯实市场信用基础。