HONG KONG -- Hong Kong bankers and investors hope Ant Group's huge initial public offering will crown a stellar year for listings -- but they know it will be pivotal for the direction of the territory's stock market and for China's ability to rival U.S. exchanges as a place to raise money.
Hong Kong has shrugged off creeping political curbs by Beijing, tensions between China and U.S., and the coronavirus pandemic to reel off three dozen listings since the end of June. Nor is the flow at an end. Investment banks are sitting on what one described as the "best pipeline in the past decade."
