Russian business should be more active on Hong Kong bourse - Petersburg economic forum

ST. PETERSBURG, June 19. /TASS/. Russian companies should be more active on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a businessman from Hong Kong and the co-owner of Hang Lung large development firm said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. Russian business "really needs" to intensify activity on the Hong Kong bourse, Ronnie Chan said. What is surprising is that Russian companies act so slowly, he added. "As far as I know, the Gini index [showing income inequality in society] is very high in Russia," the Hong Kong businessman said. This means that "wealth is concentrated in the hands of a very small group of people" who could use the possibilities of the Hong Kong bourse more actively, he added. The capitals of mainland China and Hong Kong are now bound by a large number of relations thanks to the mechanism of cross trading between the Shanghai and the Hong Kong Stock Exchanges, which was launched in November 2014, the businessman said. "There are no barriers" for initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, he added. If companies qualify for the necessary criteria, the country of their origin is not important, the businessman said. "The problem is that I don’t know whether Russian companies want to qualify for these standards," the Hong Kong businessman said. Speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, Valentina Matviyenko said in September 2014 after her visit to Hong Kong, China’s special administrative region, that the Russian authorities would help a larger number of Russia companies to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Read more