The second largest e-commerce player in China JD.com Inc. debuts today in Hong Kong Exchanges (HKEX) with its secondary listing. At the opening this morning, shares opened 5.4 percent higher than issuing price.

The top tech firm became the third U.S.-listed Chinese firms that carried out the "homecoming" secondary listing in Hong Kong. Last November, JD.com's titan rival Alibaba Group pioneered the practice under the new regime of the HKEX. Last week, Chinese Internet giant NetEase launched its dual listing in Hong Kong, leading the "homecoming" dual listing trend this year. 

JD.com has priced its stocks at 226 Hong Kong dollars per share in the listing, which will raise about 30 billion Hong Kong dollars (3.9 billion U.S. dollars), by offering 133 million shares – representing 4.3 percent of the total shares outstanding in the listing, trading in 50 shares per round lot. 

The Chinese e-commerce company's shares closed at 242.6 Hong Kong dollars in gray market trading Wednesday, according to Futu Securities. That represents a premium of as much as 7.35 percent compared to the listing price of 226 Hong Kong dollars.

The deal offers underwriters an over-allotment option, better known as "greenshoe," which allows underwriters to oversell the offering to clients by an additional 15 percent of the offering size and is often seen as the price stabilizer of new shares. If the greenshoe is executed, the fundraising target will rise to about 4.45 billion dollars. 

The listing day, June 18, is also the mid-year shopping feast in China that normally generates huge revenues for e-commerce players. 

JD.com raised 1.78 billion U.S. dollars when it listed on the Nasdaq in New York in 2014. Its share price closed at 62.01 U.S. dollars on Wednesday trading, lifting its capitalization to 91.69 billion U.S. dollars. 

Competitiveness of the HKEX

Speaking about why big names of U.S.-listed Chinese tech firms are lining up to list back in Hong Kong, Jason Chan, CFA and head of Research at Hong Kong-based uSMART Securities Limited, told CGTN that "Hong Kong and its stock market has certain competitive advantages over the global peers," and the HKEX can provide a more convenient and user-friendly trading platform for Asian institutional and retail investors.

"Especially for the Chinese investors, they could read the IPO prospectus in the same language and do the transactions with the same time zone. These advantages could definitely boost the liquidity of the transactions," he said. 

Additionally, the HKEX has carried out several reforms and modified the listing rules in the previous years. Such measures can substantially increase the competitiveness of the HKEX over global peers. 

Chan illustrated that companies with the weighted voting rights structure, such as Alibaba Group and NetEase, were allowed to go listing in Hong Kong after the changes.

Moreover, these returning companies are eligible to be included in the Hang Seng Index, as well as have the potential to be incorporated into the southbound purchase list of the Shanghai Shenzhen Hong Kong stock connect mechanism. 

"This could attract more and more active and passive funds to capture the relevant stocks," Chan said.

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