Stars align for new wave of flourishing stock sales in Asia

China's market reforms

Keen to invigorate their capital markets, Asian policymakers have been busy rolling out reforms toward smoother listing and trading.

A new venue for technology startups, known as the STAR Market, opened in Shanghai with a bang in 2019, featuring fewer trading curbs and lower profit thresholds for issuers than China's other onshore listing venues.

To encourage technology listings, regulators have also eased IPO approval rules for the innovative enterprise-heavy ChiNext in Shenzhen.

A spike in market volatility in the first quarter of the year did little to slow listing approvals. The ChiNext index plunged more than 20 percent from its February high in less than three weeks, amid speculation that the Chinese central bank may soon start to tighten liquidity, while STAR stocks suffered similar routs after peaking in January.

Historically, such magnitude and velocity of declines would often prompt Chinese regulators to limit the pace of new issuance in the onshore market. However, China's onshore IPO machine kept running at full steam this year, shrugging off volatility concerns and churning out 100 deals in the busiest first quarter since 2017. That compared with 51 and 31 listings in the first three months of last year and 2019, respectively.

In a sign of strong policy support for tech firms, about two-thirds of the onshore initial share sales this year have taken place on the ChiNext and the STAR Market.

Hong Kong has also attracted a stream of biotech IPOs over the last three years, after its exchange operator relaxed restrictions in 2018 to allow pre-profit and even pre-revenue issuers in the sector.

Meanwhile, India is planning bold reforms that could spur a capital market boom over the next few years. In a bid to boost efficiency, the government aims to privatize State-owned giants from banks to transport operators. Similarly, Pakistan is considering privatizing State-run companies across a wide range of sectors.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore is considering allowing the listing of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), three years after introducing dual-class share structures to lure tech IPOs.

Indonesian regulators are also reviewing dual-class structures, which are popular among internet firms.