Hong Kong is quietly becoming Central Asia’s privatisation banker

A Hong Kong delegation led by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu returned from Central Asia with 96 memorandums and partnership deals signed in June 2026. Of these, 61 were signed in Kazakhstan and 35 in Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan’s state railway, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, has decided to list in Hong Kong and will hold an investor roadshow in the city in June 2026. Investment bank CICC signed at least six deals, including one to help privatise Kazakh state assets.

The headline number hides the real story: who controls how Central Asia sells off its state companies. A planned Almaty–Hong Kong flight route is set to launch in 2027.

Hong Kong’s inward investment from Kazakhstan stood at US$2.0 billion at the end of 2024. Mainland China’s direct investment into Kazakhstan topped US$25 billion over the same stretch. So the deal that matters from John Lee Ka-chiu’s June 2026 trip is not the cash already in place. It is the pipe being built.

That pipe carries something specific. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are selling off hundreds of state-owned companies. The question every banker in the room cared about was simple: who handles the sale. London has done this work for decades. Moscow did it before that. Now the answer is shifting east, toward Hong Kong, and the railway listing is the first proof.

Frederick Ma Si-hang, chairman of the Trade Development Council, confirmed that Kazakhstan Temir Zholy has decided to list in the city. A state railway floating its shares in Hong Kong is not a routine IPO. It is a test of whether China’s financial hub can become the default exit door for Central Asia’s privatisation drive.

The railway listing is the real signal

Strip out the 96 deals and look at one fund. Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth vehicle, Samruk-Kazyna, manages roughly US$68 billion in assets. It holds stakes in the railway, in oil firm KazMunayGas, and in other companies marked for sale. CICC signed a deal with it to route some of that sell-off through Hong Kong. That is the mechanism the headline skipped.

The scale gap explains the appeal. The Astana International Exchange lists 105 securities from 98 issuers, according to the exchange’s own filings. Hong Kong hosts more than 2,600 listed companies. A railway too big for Astana fits comfortably in a market that size.

Gary Ng Cheuk-yan, an economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank, argues the railway’s offering would be symbolic and decisive—a successful float would pull other Central Asian firms toward the city. Kenji Fong, head of Asia-Pacific financials research at UBS, frames it from the buy side: Hong Kong wants to widen its IPO pipeline beyond mainland Chinese issuers, with Belt and Road economies the targeted source of mid-cap listings.

The regulatory groundwork is already laid. Timur Suleimenov, governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said the regulator finished aligning its securities rules with IOSCO principles to support cross-border listings. That alignment is what lets a Kazakh firm clear Hong Kong’s listing bar. The plumbing works. The open question is whether the water flows.

Beijing sets the timetable, not the market

The visible venue is Hong Kong. The decisions sit in Beijing, Astana and Tashkent. Kazakhstan’s 2021–2025 privatisation plan, approved by government resolution, mandates selling stakes in major state firms through public listings. Uzbekistan has gone further. Bakhtiyor Khodzhaev, the country’s first deputy minister of economy and finance, said it plans to privatise more than 1,000 state-owned assets by 2026.

That supply needs a buyer’s venue. Hong Kong’s exchange recorded IPO proceeds of roughly HK$37 billion in the first five months of 2026, down from a year earlier. An exchange short on new issuers and a region long on state assets to sell make an obvious match.

Here is the read worth holding onto: this is less about new listings than about who intermediates Central Asia’s sell-off—and the fee pools and information edge that come with it. If Astana and Tashkent mandate Hong Kong banks over London or Moscow ones, the advantage migrates toward China’s orbit.

So return to that US$2 billion. Today it makes Hong Kong a small player next to direct Chinese money. The trip was not about that figure. It was about turning a small stake into the channel through which a whole region sells itself off—and Beijing sets when the selling starts.

Beyond the headline

The money trail

The real flow is less about individual IPOs and more about who intermediates Central Asia’s state-asset sell-off. If Samruk-Kazyna and Uzbek agencies increasingly hire Hong Kong banks and lawyers rather than London or Moscow ones, fee pools and information advantages migrate toward China’s orbit. That subtly reshapes how global capital prices risk in a region once dominated by Russian and Western institutions.

The power behind it

Although Hong Kong markets are the visible venue, the strategic calls are made in Beijing, Astana and Tashkent, where privatisation timetables and route concessions are politically set. Hong Kong’s institutions execute within parameters shaped by China’s Belt and Road priorities and Central Asian leaders’ wish for varied partners. Governance standards and investor protections will largely reflect those upstream power calculations rather than market logic alone.

The reach

For European asset managers in emerging-market debt, shifting Central Asian quasi-sovereign issuance into Hong Kong could change benchmark construction and trading venues. If more Kazakh or Uzbek names price in offshore yuan or list solely in Hong Kong, managers may need new trading lines, custodians, and risk models. Those would have to account for Hong Kong’s regulatory setting and China-related sanctions risk, pushing the story into Western back offices.

Where the capital and the flight path leave you

With the railway roadshow set for June 2026 and a flight route a year out, the practical decisions split by who you are.

• Western retail and institutional investors

  Track the Kazakh privatisation portal at gosreestr.kz for current and upcoming asset sales, including English-language documents where available. Monitor HKEX’s new-listing announcements for any filing tied to the railway, and ask a licensed broker whether your account already supports Hong Kong trading.

• Emerging-market fund managers

  Decide now whether your benchmarks and custody arrangements can handle offshore-yuan-priced Central Asian paper. If Kazakh or Uzbek names list solely in Hong Kong, you will need trading lines and risk models that price in China-related compliance exposure before the first deal prints.

• Expats and business travellers in Hong Kong

  Local brokers may add Kazakh and Uzbek securities once listings proceed, widening your reachable markets. Nonstop Almaty–Hong Kong flights from 2027 will simplify business travel, though entry rules stay unchanged—Kazakhstan grants many Western nationals 30 days visa-free.

FAQ

Explainer

Samruk-Kazyna

Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, holding the state’s stakes in major companies. It manages roughly US$68 billion in assets, including the national railway and oil firm KazMunayGas. Its deal with CICC is the clearest sign that Hong Kong, not London, may handle the next wave of Kazakh asset sales.

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy

Kazakhstan’s state-owned railway operator, the backbone of overland trade between China and Europe. It moves freight across the country’s vast steppe, making it central to Belt and Road cargo flows. Its planned Hong Kong listing would be the first state firm from the region to test the city as a fundraising venue.

IOSCO

The International Organization of Securities Commissions, the global body that sets standards for capital markets. Its principles cover investor protection and cross-border listing rules. Kazakhstan finished aligning its securities regulation with these standards in late 2024, the step that lets Kazakh firms clear Hong Kong’s listing requirements.