Asia’s capital-raisers are finishing the year with a flourish. Just this week, Hong Kong priced the world’s biggest property initial public offering while in Seoul, the Samsung group’s de facto holding company yesterday doubled on its debut.
The deals have helped Hong Kong’s IPO market record its strongest performance in three years and South Korea its best in four, according to Dealogic. “The momentum feels like it is building a positive backdrop for 2015,” says Nicholas Johnson, head of Asia Pacific equity capital markets at JPMorgan.
Australia too has outperformed, enjoying its best year in two decades with $16bn to its account. Sydney has been its brightest market. Last month Medibank Private, the country’s largest health insurer, raised $4.9bn. In July, banks raised $2.1bn for Healthscope, a private hospital operator.