Cathay Pacific Haitong: Investment and financing rebalancing continues to gradually pick up equity financing

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Cathay Pacific Haitong released a research report saying that investment and financing rebalancing has entered a new stage, and leading brokerage firms with more advantages in corporate customer resources, professional service capabilities, and cross-border service capabilities are expected to continue to benefit. On the marginal side, the pace of A-share equity financing has improved marginally. Hong Kong stocks continue to be active, with a significant year-on-year boost. Leading brokerage firms with more advantages in corporate customer resources, professional service capabilities, and cross-border service capabilities are expected to continue to maintain a leading position in the evolution of the investment banking business ecosystem.

Cathay Pacific Haitong's main views are as follows:

A shares: equity financing is gradually picking up, and bond underwriting continues to grow

1) IPO: According to the release date statistics, 12 A-shares were initially listed in November, an increase of 1 company was raised over the previous month, raising a total of 20.5 billion yuan; 2) Refinancing: According to statistics on the issue date, the monthly refinancing scale was 12 billion yuan. Since the beginning of the year, the scale of A-share IPOs was +95% year over year, and the refinancing scale was +363% (+70% after excluding fixed increases from major banks), and overall improvements continued; 3) M&A restructuring: Driven by the industry's own needs, M&A demand remained strong. The total number of major restructuring events of listed companies that have been disclosed since the beginning of the year reached 157, including 11 in November; 4) Bond issuance: The cumulative underwriting scale increased year-on-year, with core bonds (corporate bonds+corporate bonds+convertible bonds) being issued in November at 398.3 billion yuan since the beginning of the year The cumulative year-on-year growth rate was +13%.

Hong Kong stocks: equity financing continues to be active

Since the second half of '24, Hong Kong stock trading activity has increased dramatically, and improvements in market liquidity have boosted a sharp recovery in Hong Kong stock IPOs and refinancing. Since the beginning of the year, the IPOs for Hong Kong stocks were HK$259.4 billion, up 228% year on year; the refinancing scale was HK$315.6 billion, up 251% year on year. Earlier, the Securities Regulatory Commission held a plenary session on the cross-departmental coordination working mechanism for overseas listing filing management, and proposed to make better use of the coordination mechanism to provide a more transparent, efficient, and predictable regulatory environment for overseas listings of enterprises. It is expected that the convenience of Hong Kong stock financing will be further improved.

A new stage of investment and financing rebalancing. Reform dividends continue to be released, which is beneficial to many businesses such as brokerage investment banks

On October 27, Chairman Wu Qing of the Securities Regulatory Commission delivered a keynote speech at the 2025 Financial Street Forum Annual Meeting, discussing “giving full play to the leading role of comprehensive investment and financing reforms to promote the high-quality development of the 15th Five-Year Plan capital market”. Among them, key measures such as initiating GEM reform and optimizing the Beijing Stock Exchange system and proposing to introduce a refinancing reserve issuance system are proposed. It is expected that investment and financing rebalancing will enter a new stage.

Risk warning: The capital market fluctuates greatly; the pace of IPOs has been drastically tightened.