Rare! Multiple Chinese investment banks step down as overall coordinators for Hong Kong stock IPOs

Source: Hu Report

Recently, the Hong Kong stock IPO market has stirred again, with several Chinese investment banks announcing their withdrawal from the role of overall coordinator for upcoming listed companies.

On March 8, Saimet Information Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Saimet”) announced that CITIC Lyon Securities Limited and CITIC Construction Investment (International) Financing Limited have resigned from their roles as the company’s overall coordinators. Earlier, on January 12, MicroPort Holdings Limited (referred to as “MicroPort”) also announced that China Merchants Securities International Finance Limited is no longer the company’s overall coordinator.

Industry insiders point out that, as the number of Hong Kong IPOs has surged in recent years, Chinese investment banks have become more cautious in selecting and handling IPO projects, preferring to focus limited resources on the “most promising transactions.”

Several Chinese investment banks step down

According to Saimet’s announcement, the company has terminated its agreements with CITIC Lyon Securities Limited and CITIC Construction Investment (International) Financing Limited as the company’s overall coordinators, effective from March 6 and March 8, respectively. Currently, the firms still serving as the company’s overall coordinators are Haitong International Securities, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities (Hong Kong), and Futu Securities International (Hong Kong).

MicroPort’s announcement states that Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited was appointed as the company’s overall coordinator. The appointment of China Merchants Securities International Finance Limited as the coordinator has expired, and the company and China Merchants Securities International Finance Limited agreed on January 12 not to renew the appointment.

As early as December 12, 2025, Zhejiang Liji Storage Technology Co., Ltd. also announced that the company and Minyin Securities Limited had agreed to terminate Minyin Securities Limited’s appointment as one of the overall coordinators on December 12, 2025.

A review of recent years shows that foreign investment banks have been increasingly withdrawing from Hong Kong IPOs in 2023. Goldman Sachs, for example, has repeatedly stepped down from roles as overall coordinator for companies like Fourth Paradigm, Kode-B, Yaoshi Bang, KEEP, and Youbao Online.

Meanwhile, Chinese investment banks have been hiring more as overall coordinators for companies. However, with the rapid rebound in Hong Kong IPOs in recent years, Chinese investment banks have also seen some exit. Since the end of 2025, three companies have announced the withdrawal of their related investment banks.

According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Listing Rules, issuers must appoint intermediaries such as sponsors, underwriters, and lawyers, and also must appoint an overall coordinator. For main board listings, issuers are required to appoint a sponsor and overall coordinator at least two months before submitting their listing application.

The overall coordinator mainly handles the later global offering process and has rights such as providing allocation advice to the issuer and exercising discretion over over-allotment options.

Yuan Mei, Director of Research at Sullivan & Cromwell (Shenzhen) Cloud Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters that the Hong Kong IPO process has relatively lower thresholds compared to A-shares, but selling the stock is challenging, especially in large-scale fundraising. The overall coordinator plays a crucial role in the global offering by helping the issuer find suitable investors.

Focusing on high-quality projects

The withdrawal of Chinese investment banks from the role of overall coordinator for IPOs may be related to the ongoing boom in the Hong Kong IPO market.

According to Bloomberg, insiders revealed that due to internal staffing constraints, CITIC Lyon Securities and CITIC Construction Investment (International) have decided to withdraw from serving as the overall coordinators for Saimet’s Hong Kong IPO. This reflects the real challenges faced by investment banks amid the current surge in new listings in Hong Kong. Although the market recovery is positive for the industry, the sector has been accustomed to lean staffing during the downturn in recent years. Now, with a sudden increase in transaction volume, some banks are overwhelmed and unable to quickly allocate enough personnel to handle multiple listings.

Data from Wind shows that so far this year, 28 companies have listed in Hong Kong, up from 12 in the same period in 2025, an increase of 16. Additionally, many companies are currently queued for listing, indicating a significant rebound in the Hong Kong new stock market. In 2025, the Hong Kong IPO market experienced a strong recovery, with 119 new stocks listed and total IPO fundraising exceeding HKD 280 billion. Both the number of IPOs and the total funds raised increased significantly.

John Lee, CEO of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, mentioned during the Lunar New Year opening ceremony that currently, 488 companies are waiting in line to list.

On January 30, 2026, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission announced that, due to some sponsors’ personnel not meeting the qualification standards for passing required exams, all persons engaged in IPO sponsorship work must now meet stricter exam requirements. Data shows that among licensed investment bank personnel holding License No. 6, only 21.17% are actively engaged.

Yuan Mei stated that as the number of Hong Kong IPOs continues to rise, investment banks are becoming more cautious in handling IPO projects, preferring to focus limited resources on high-quality projects. The “invisible” threshold for companies listing in Hong Kong may be rising.

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