This file photo shows a view by the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, June 11, 2020. (LI GANG / XINHUA)
Overseas companies continue to recognize Hong Kong’s gateway role in accessing the mainland market, as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a factor for overseas companies in deciding whether to establish presences in Hong Kong or not.
On Thursday, Invest Hong Kong — the government’s foreign direct-investment promotion agency — announced the number of companies it assists that said the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was a factor when considering whether to set up business in Hong Kong.
In the first nine months of this year, 58.1 percent of the InvestHK-assisted 260 overseas companies said that the Greater Bay Area was a factor when considering setting up a business in Hong Kong. In 2019, 46 percent of the InvestHK-assisted 404 overseas companies indicated that the Greater Bay Area was a factor in their decisions.
The survey conducted by Invest Hong Kong showed that mainland and overseas family offices, innovation and technology startups, and financial technology companies are more interested in establishing offices in Hong Kong because of the Greater Bay Area’s business prospects
However, the higher percentage today is attributed mainly to the fact that the total number of InvestHK-assisted overseas companies is smaller now than it was two year ago.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted negative impacts on foreign direct investment inflows into Hong Kong. We hope that the situation may improve when the pandemic situation wanes,” InvestHK Associate Director-General Jimmy Chiang said at the Thursday news conference.
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In 2020, InvestHK had lured 317 overseas companies to set up their offices in Hong Kong whereas the number in 2019 was 487.
InvestHK said it is difficult to predict whether the Hong Kong government’s extending border controls will make overseas companies less likely to expand their respective businesses in Hong Kong going forward.
“Relaxing border-control measures of course is positive in attracting investment, but we also have to take the containment of COVID-19 into consideration. I think resuming clearance with the Chinese mainland first, then with overseas countries, is the better strategy,” Chiang added.
The survey showed that mainland and overseas family offices, innovation and technology startups, and financial technology companies are more interested in establishing offices in Hong Kong because of the Greater Bay Area’s business prospects. These enterprises mainly comes from the Chinese mainland, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“For family offices, they may mull establishing investment funds in Hong Kong to invest in Shenzhen-based startups because these are good investment opportunities,” Chiang said. “Private equity-fund managers and other asset managers will be attracted to Hong Kong.”
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Chiang added that technology-and-innovation and financial-technology startups will consider establishing their offices in Hong Kong to take advantage of the technology collaboration opportunities between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.