HK playing vital role in global drive of mainland companies

As more Chinese mainland enterprises go global in search of new development drivers, Hong Kong is emerging as a springboard positioned at the crossroads of East and West, offering end-to-end support to help the firms establish a footing and grow sustainably in overseas markets, experts said.

In its recommendations for formulating the country's next five-year development plan, the Communist Party of China's Central Committee emphasized that Hong Kong's status as an international financial, shipping and trade center should be consolidated, and the special administrative region's unique strengths and important role should be further leveraged.

"We can see that Hong Kong is taking on a more and more pivotal role in supporting mainland companies to expand globally," said Irina Fan Yuen-yee, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council's director of research.

"More small and medium-sized enterprises are now looking to Hong Kong as a launchpad or a partner, especially for the technical and service support they need," Fan said.

According to an HKTDC report, more than 90 percent of 343 surveyed mainland enterprises intend to expand their respective international business outreach in the next one to three years, with about 77 percent seeing Hong Kong as their preferred services platform for tapping into overseas markets.

Fan said one clear trend has many mainland firms leveraging the SAR as a supply chain management center. She said some are investing in Southeast Asian countries through their subsidiaries in Hong Kong amid their efforts to diversify and strengthen supply chains.

"Hong Kong is clearly set to play an increasingly important role in the ongoing supply-chain transformation process, a change that is being driven by the region's deeper economic integration and the new generation of supply chain networks," she said.

The SAR's robust financial and professional services ecosystem also cements its status as a unique platform for helping mainland firms streamline their global operations.

Edward Au Chun-hing, southern region managing partner at Deloitte China, said mainland enterprises face a range of challenges as they expand internationally, particularly in managing capital flows.

With the city's well-developed financial environment, "they can use Hong Kong's different kinds of financial products to hedge or to mitigate exposure", Au said.

Johnson Chui King-wai, head of global issuer services at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, said Hong Kong can offer access to "deep, diversified pools of financing" with its regulatory framework that protects the free flow of international capital.

As mainland corporates are now accelerating global expansion, and some carving out their overseas assets for separate listings in Hong Kong, the city's international fundraising platform "is the natural place to finance that ambition", Chui wrote in a recent note.

As of mid-October, half of mainland enterprises listed in Hong Kong had generated a significant portion of their revenue from overseas markets, according to HKEX. These issuers accounted for about 80 percent of total initial public offering fundraising in the city since the start of 2025.

gabylin@chinadailyhk.com