Hong Kong IPO market now world's busiest

HONG KONG, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The Hong Kong financial market is booming with the city's initial public offerings this year making it the busiest in the world.

Next week Industrial & Commercial Bank of China is expected to raise as much as $16 billion in Hong Kong, as well as $6 billion in Shanghai, The New York Times reported Friday. And in June Bank of China's IPO in Hong Kong raised about $10 billion.

Thomson Financial says there has been $40 billion worth of initial public offerings placed on London exchanges this year, while $30 billion in IPOs were sold in New York. Hong Kong has had $17 billion to $24 billion, even without the up to $16 billion from ICBC.

"It's not obvious as to what the next $10 billion trade is but, having said that, we continue to think that there will be meaningful IPO volume coming from China," said Gokul Laroia, a managing director at Morgan Stanley and its head of global capital markets in Asia.