Hong Kong’s newly established sovereign wealth fund (SWF), the Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), is set to make its first batch of direct investments and co-investments during the first half of this year, according to the city’s latest budget plan.
Financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po outlined in the annual budget address last week that the HKIC would invest in sectors such as life technology, green technology and finance, semiconductors and chips, and manufacturing industries.
In addition to investments, the SWF alongside other government corporations, such as InvestHK, will work on attracting overseas technology enterprises to establish a presence in Hong Kong in the hope of drawing a larger number of companies, capital, and talent to the city.
Hong Kong has lost out on such assets to Singapore over the last few years. The latter has seen a rush of funds, family offices, and financial firms looking to re-establish their headquarters or set up another base in the city-state.
Chan also announced that Hong Kong will host its conference for international SWFs and a separate one for startup investment and development, in a bid to enhance its branding as a financial hub.
In recent months Hong Kong has held multiple summits to boost its standing, with top executives from Apollo, BlackRock, and Carlyle in attendance. Chinese investors such as HongShan’s Neil Shen and Hillhouse’s Lei Zhang were also present.
The Future Investment Initiative Institute, which hosts the ‘Davos in the Desert’ conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, picked Hong Kong as the destination for its debut Asia gathering in December last year.
The HKIC was established in 2022. It appointed Clara Chan, former executive director of Hong Kong’s de facto central bank Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), as its chief executive officer last October.
The HK$62 billion ($7.9 billion) sovereign wealth fund of Hong Kong is viewed as a parallel to Singapore’s Temasek, which has a portfolio worth $287 billion.