Invest HK Assists Record Number of Companies to Set Up or Expand in Hong Kong

Invest Hong Kong (Invest HK) announced that the department assisted 355 overseas and Mainland companies to set up or expand in Hong Kong in 2014. This number represents an all-time high and a year-on-year increase of 5.4%.

InvestHK’s Director-General of Investment Promotion, Mr Simon Galpin, said he was delighted to see the increase in completed projects:“2014 was another record year for InvestHK in terms of completed projects. Despite ongoing challenges in the global economy, Hong Kong continues to attract overseas and Mainland investors because of its enduring advantages and emerging business opportunities,” Mr Galpin said.“In the year ahead, we will continue to identify investors from key sectors and markets. Our targets include companies ranging from entrepreneur-led ventures to multinationals that plan to set up or expand in our city,” Mr Galpin added. 

The 355 completed projects came from a record 47 economies. Mainland China continued to lead with a total of 75 projects, followed by the US with 44 completed projects, the UK (32), Japan (28) and France (25). For the first time, InvestHK helped companies from Bangladesh, Cyprus, Kuwait, Poland, Romania and Tajikistan to set up in Hong Kong.

Market subsectors experiencing most growth included software solutions, food and beverages and asset management. There were 62 start-ups, or 17,5% of the total number of projects from diverse source economies and included France (11), the US (10) and the UK (7). According to a recent survey by InvestHK, there are 1 065 start-ups operating out of 35 co-work locations in Hong Kong.

Mr Galpin said that InvestHK will continue to reach out to potential clients in priority markets including Mainland China and those in Association of Southeast Asian Nations economies. The department also hope to generate more projects from markets where it has set up new offices including Mexico and Wuhan, Mainland China. “We are looking to 2015 with cautious optimism. Notwithstanding global economic uncertainty, we have a strong pipeline of companies and are optimistic that we will be able to meet our annual target of assisting 370 companies in 2015,” Mr Galpin said.