Clawback

In his latest Clawback column, Philippe Espinasse takes a look at the Hong Kong stock exchange’s new three year plan and its desire to be a global listing hub.

Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse turns his attention to one of the ECM world’s best-guarded secrets: the profits banks can make from stabilisation.

IPOs worldwide have been derailed by geopolitical developments — except, it seems, in Hong Kong. Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse investigates.

In this year’s last Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse has his say on corporate governance standards in Hong Kong-listed companies.

Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse says the latest proposals by Hong Kong’s Law Society could spell bad news for international securities lawyers in the city.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is looking to boost governance of listed companies through a new proposal, but is this in the best interest of shareholders? Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse has his say.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse turns his focus to hiring practices in the region's equity capital markets.

As Asian exchanges increasingly embrace the US model for new listings — the introduction of variable voting rights being a case in point — disintermediated IPOs may perhaps soon be the next fad, writes Clawback.

Cornerstone investors used to be the trusted, fail-safe, mechanism that ensured the success of Hong Kong IPOs. Not anymore, writes Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse.

For all the talk of a deluge of tech IPOs soon hitting the Asian (and especially Hong Kong) markets, the performance of new listings and investor appetite there both remain decidedly subdued, writes Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse.

In his latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse takes a closer look at the Hong Kong bourse’s guidelines on the suitability of IPO candidates.

As the introduction of weighted voting rights (WVR) and pre-revenue companies’ listings get nearer in Hong Kong, Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse sees an opportune time for a quick take on the types of companies that the exchange — which is probably the most volatile of the world’s major primary markets — readily allows.

In the new Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse analyses the impact of Hong Kong’s new rules around cornerstone investors in biotechnology companies.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse takes a closer look at two new IPO guidance letters released by the Hong Kong bourse.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse puts the Singapore Exchange's proposal on quarterly reporting by companies under the microscope.

Amid UBS’s Sergio Ermotti’s spat with regulators, Clawback columnist Philippe Espinasse turns his attention to this season’s banker bonuses.

In this week's Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse writes about how Hong Kong’s ambitious plans to woo international companies to its stock exchange are facing a big setback.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse puts the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s (HKEX) recent consultation paper on capital raisings by listed issuers under the microscope.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse puts cash trading numbers in Hong Kong under the microscope to some rather interesting results.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse dissects the IPO approval and rejection process in Hong Kong, as the city’s licensed bankers play musical chairs.

Something quite extraordinary has just been happening in Singapore. For the first time in several years, investors in the city-state have been able to punt on a local, multi-billion-dollar IPO, writes Philippe Espinasse in the latest Clawback.

Just as the country’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, met with Donald Trump on a US tour, Vietnam’s equity capital markets were repeatedly in the news over the last few weeks, with a flurry of IPOs and new listings, heralding that issuers there may finally be coming of age, writes columnist Philippe Espinasse.

In the latest Clawback, columnist Philippe Espinasse turns his focus to the listing of infrastructure project companies in Hong Kong, saying that IPOs of Belt and Road issuers could be a big challenge.

To many, the 85% collapse in the share price of China Huishan Dairy Holdings Co on March 24 came as a complete surprise. With now all of the company’s non-executive directors having tendered their resignations (in the process also effectively wiping out Huishan’s audit committee), the company’s key treasury executive still missing, and the controlling shareholder seemingly heading for the exit amid talk of margin calls, the milk producer’s short stint as a public company increasingly looks like a horror story, writes Clawback.

The CEO of HKEX may be keen for Saudi Aramco to list in Hong Kong but as our columnist Clawback explains, there are more reasons for the Saudi oil giant to bypass the city’s exchange than to pick it for a listing.

The filing of form S-1, the draft registration statement for the proposed $3bn New York IPO of Snap, the $25bn parent company of messaging app Snapchat, was full of surprises — not all of them good for investors. If anything, it also showed that Hong Kong will, most likely, never be able to compete with the US exchanges when it comes to listing unicorns, writes our columnist Clawback.

Thirty-first of December was not only the last day of a decidedly subdued year, but also the deadline by which Credit Suisse bankers in London were allegedly asked to return the mobile phones issued to them by their employer. This is only the latest nail in the coffin of a profession once seen more as a lifestyle, but which has now become (almost) like any other, writes our columnist Clawback.

Or so the saying goes. Not in China, it seems. Breaking the news that a bulge bracket firm in Hong Kong is suing a Chinese SOE client for non-payment of fees, our columnist Clawback says doing business in China is now little more than a league table exercise.

Hong Kong’s IPO sponsors are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons as Standard Chartered and UBS face investigations by the city’s regulator. As a former IPO banker and joint author of the study manual for sponsors, our columnist Clawback is perfectly placed to delve into the pitfalls for banks.

The speed at which Chinese financial firms have made a significant dent in the investment banking profits of bulge bracket banks has even surprised Clawback.

Clawback turns his focus to cornerstones. Once a useful tool for creating demand, the process has morphed into a kind of insurance policy for IPOs, writes Philippe Espinasse.

This month, a recent announcement by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) in relation to one of its listing rules caught the attention of columnist Philippe Espinasse, who has put the regulation under the microscope.

Just a few weeks apart, announcements were recently made by the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX) and Singapore’s SGX respectively about changes to front line regulatory functions they perform. The approaches under these proposals couldn’t have been more different, writes Philippe Espinasse.

Part science, part art, part mystery: our columnist takes a closer look at the process of allocating deals to investors.

As the $100bn-plus IPO of Saudi Aramco nears its launch, the UK’s Telegraph has most recently hinted at a three-way foreign listing, conducted across London, New York and Hong Kong. Columnist Philippe Espinasse looks at the practicalities and advantages (as well as disadvantages) for the oil behemoth of listing in Asia.

Having left investment banking a while ago, I’m baffled by the increasingly arcane and complex rules that now plague the business — the Chinese Mainland being a particular case in point, writes Philippe Espinasse.