Global capital is tiptoeing into Hong Kong’s market, aided by the city’s investment fund Global financial investors are pouring into Hong Kong in a low profile way to stay under the radar and avoid undue attention because of rising geopolitical tension, said the head of the city’s de facto sovereign wealth fund. “We see a great velocity of [capital] flow, although in a very low profile way,” said Clara Chan, the CEO of the HK$62 billion (US$8 billion) government-owned fund known as Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), during a Wednesday interview with the Post at the BioHK 2025 conference. The fund aims to “protect” its investees from geopolitics by being “very agile” in facilitating the flow of capital and talent, she said. She cited the HKIC’s International Forum for Patient Capital gathering in May as an example, which drew global investors including European and US firms with more than US$20 trillion of combined assets under management. Some participants stayed off the stage “for obvious reasons”, but “they know what’s happening here”, Chan said. “They loved it because they could stay low profile, but then they would know where to put the money to work,” Chan said. “A lot of long-term capital really think they should not miss the opportunity in either Hong Kong or via Hong Kong into China.” The HKIC was founded in 2022 by Hong Kong’s government to spur the city’s revamp into an innovation and technology hub. It focuses on “hard and core technology”, biotechnology and green technology, with 130 invested projects thus far, Chan said. Biotechnology, which made up about 20 per cent of the HKIC’s investments thus far, is “very dear to my heart” because the sector “brings real drugs and real treatment to benefit the public”, in addition to the financial returns, Chan said. Investing in health tech and biotech was also “in line with what the central government is doing”, she said. The HKIC’s latest investment was in Insilico Medicine, a start-up that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in drug discovery. The investment was made “some time ago”, Chan said, declining to disclose the investment size, which was “comfortable for both sides”, with “some room” for other investors, she said. Insilico, founded in 2014, is renewing its push for an initial public offering in Hong Kong following two attempts in the city in the last two years. The company, which generates revenue from drug licensing and offering its generative AI drug discovery software as a service, posted a loss of US$17.1 million last year, even though revenue jumped 68 per cent from a year earlier to US$85.8 million. HKIC’s investment stipulated that Insilico lease more space and hire more people in Hong Kong, work with local universities and have intellectual property generated and registered in the city, among other things, according to Chan. The HKIC and Insilico will launch an initiative called the “longevity frontier space”, where the start-up will incubate companies in the field and give the HKIC “the rights to have the first look”, she said. While Hong Kong is an “unstoppable force” in biotech, geopolitics remains the main challenge for the city’s efforts to become a biotech hub, said Insilico CEO Alex Zhavoronkov. Such challenges could transform into long-term opportunities as people adjust to the “new normal”, according to Chan. “The new normal is that geopolitics is not going away any time soon, but the smart money needs to invest in the future.” https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3325082/global-capital-tiptoeing-hong-kongs-market-aided-citys-investment-fund (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post