I recently did a bit of research on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) filings, going through almost 100 prospectuses to find out who the real legal leaders are. That initiative was in part triggered by some conversations I’ve had with capital markets lawyers in international firms that were at one time best known for representing Chinese issuers. Many of those firms, including Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, have since switched to primarily advising underwriters, though I noted that the switch may not have been voluntary.

My investigation was also prompted by what I thought I saw as the rise of U.S. firms seizing Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) market share. I had set out to discover whether this was because of the activity of certain sectors (think biotech, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and technology) or the ripple effects of U.S.-China geopolitics or of China’s recent crackdown on data security, which inadvertently filled a pipeline of “homecoming” listings.