BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

HKEX: where East meets West

HKEX head Charles Li on the exchange’s role in connecting East to West

February 14, 2019 1:54 PM UTC

Unfazed by the shaky start of the Hong Kong stock exchange’s new biotech chapter, HKEX CEO Charles Li thinks its position at the nexus of East and West will underpin its long-term success. With more U.S. investors tapping into China’s healthcare market and more Chinese investors looking for channels abroad, Li is confident the chapter can weather the current geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds.

In a conversation with BioCentury, Li said he expects IPOs on the exchange this year to continue at a rapid clip, albeit with more realistic valuations than the first crop. The years of regulatory reform and economic growth that paved the way for China’s budding innovative medicines industry will continue to fuel its growth in 2019 and beyond, according to Li. ...