HKEX opens London office, with 31-degree weather and a Hong Kong taxi in tow
From a gong ceremony to an actual Hong Kong taxi cruising the streets of London, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) sought to announce its presence as it opened the doors of its newest international office in Britain's financial capital on Wednesday.
The operator of the Hong Kong stock exchange is hoping the London office, alongside an office it opened in New York in June, will allow it to better connect with international investors and pitch Hong Kong as a global fundraising hub.
"Our new office will add another dimension for our connectivity with this city," Nicolas Aguzin, the HKEX CEO, said at a ceremony in London, attended by more than 100 clients and guests. "It will give us greater opportunity to service the needs of our clients here and across Europe. We're very excited. We really believe we can better connect them with opportunities in Hong Kong, in mainland China and across all of Asia."
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The office, located at 10 Finsbury Square, will have about 10 people initially, with Raymond Wong Chun-wai serving as head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business development. Finsbury Square also is home to the London Metal Exchange, which the HKEX acquired in 2012.
Our roving #HongKong taxi🚗arrives in Europe's financial capital...👋Hello #London! #HKEXinLondon #BringingAsiatotheWorld pic.twitter.com/DFxOLm4jxJ
- HKEX 香港交易所 (@HKEXGroup) September 6, 2023
HKEX has signed separate agreements with stock exchanges in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia this year to explore opportunities in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
It also comes four years after the HKEX made a surprise, and ultimately unsuccessful, bid to acquire the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the operator of the London Stock Exchange.
As part of Wednesday's festivities, HKEX debuted a promotional video of Aguzin travelling around London in a red Hong Kong taxi, with a gold lucky cat statue on the dashboard.
"I love London. It's great to be back," Aguzin said in the video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "There's just something about it."
The company also hosted a gathering of clients and other guests at a restaurant in the City of London, just steps away from the Bank of England, on a day that felt more like Hong Kong, than London, with the temperature topping 31 degrees Celsius.
Nicolas Aguzin, Hong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) CEO, speaks at a ceremony celebrating the opening of its newest international office in London on September 6, 2023. Photo: Chad Bray alt=Nicolas Aguzin, Hong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) CEO, speaks at a ceremony celebrating the opening of its newest international office in London on September 6, 2023. Photo: Chad Bray>
At the gathering, Aguzin and Kevin Rideout, HKEX's co-head of sales and marketing, rang a gong to celebrate the opening of the new office, just as the HKEX does when new issues debut or important products are launched in Hong Kong. Guests also received a small Hong Kong taxi to carry home.
"It's never been more important for IFCs [international financial centres] like Hong Kong, like London, like New York to be more integrated," Rideout said. "It's also important that we all take the initiative to communicate, and communicate accurately, about the great opportunities that we can create."
HKEX's London debut comes amid an increasingly cutthroat battle among exchanges globally to attract and retain listings, with bourses in the US outpacing their global rivals.
This year, London missed out on listings for Arm Holdings, the British chip designer seeking a valuation of US$52 billion in this year's largest initial public offering, and gold miner AngloGold Ashanti's plan to shift its primary listing from Johannesburg. Both companies chose New York.
CRH, the world's largest building material company, British plumbing equipment maker Ferguson and gambling company Flutter Entertainment also have announced plans to shift their listings from London to New York this year.
WE Soda, the world's biggest producer of natural soda ash, abandoned plans for an IPO in London in June, citing "extreme investor caution" as it sought to raise up to US$800 million.
Eighteen issuers raised about £593 million (US$744 million) in IPOs in London in the first half of the year, according to data from Ernst and Young.
By comparison, issuers in the US raised US$10.1 billion in the first half of the year, whilst Hong Kong IPOs raised about US$2.3 billion in proceeds during the period, according to Ernst and Young.
It was the lowest fundraising total in Hong Kong in the first half of the year since 2003, according to data from Refinitiv.
In August, the city's government appointed a 13-member task force, headed by former Securities and Futures Commission chairman Carlson Tong Ka-shing, to seek ways to boost the city's capital markets.
At the same time, the UK government has been seeking to increase the attractiveness of London as a financial hub.
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt pledged last year to relax a series of financial regulations put in place whilst Britain was part of the European Union, dubbing the plan the Edinburgh reforms.
However, some have pushed back against the idea of relaxing financial rules too much, particularly following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March. The US regional lender was a big lender to tech start-ups and its collapse put pressure on banks globally as investor confidence waned.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
