In the wave of Chinese concept stocks returning to Hong Kong, liquidity differentiation among companies has become a prominent characteristic. As of the first half of 2025, among 31 Chinese concept stock Hong Kong listing projects, the 12 companies already included in Stock Connect showed more balanced "US + Hong Kong" trading levels, with US daily average trading volume averaging only 1.3 times that of Hong Kong stocks. Among the 19 companies not included in Stock Connect, poor liquidity was mostly concentrated in small-cap companies or those that did not raise funds when returning to Hong Kong - these companies generally face low trading activity due to insufficient liquidity in circulating shares and concentrated shareholder structures.
Kanzhun Limited represents a "special case" within this group: as of June 30, 2025, the company's total market value approached HK$65 billion, placing it well beyond small-cap territory. However, affected by its December 2022 return to Hong Kong through "introduction listing" (without fundraising), it has long been constrained by weak Hong Kong stock liquidity, becoming a typical example of "large market cap but low liquidity" among companies not included in Stock Connect. Therefore, the need to improve liquidity through proactive measures became more urgent. The public share offering launched in June 2025 represents both a crucial attempt at breaking through its own constraints and provides a reference sample for similar "non-small-cap but low-liquidity" Hong Kong-listed companies.
**Introduction Listing Return to Hong Kong Results in "Frozen" Liquidity - US Trading Volume 454 Times Higher Than Hong Kong in H1 2025**
Kanzhun Limited landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 22, 2022, through introduction listing without raising funds. To activate Hong Kong stock trading, the company designated Goldman Sachs as a market maker to boost trading volume by selling shares within a month after listing. However, the effect was limited - while Hong Kong stock trading volume had some support in the initial listing period, it subsequently remained persistently weak, and the company did not adopt other liquidity improvement measures.
Trading data from the first half of 2025 more directly reflects its liquidity challenges: Kanzhun Limited's Hong Kong stock daily average trading volume was only HK$1.24 million, with a daily average turnover rate as low as 0.002%. During the same period, its US stock daily average trading volume was approximately HK$560 million, with a turnover rate of 0.927%. US daily average trading volume was 454 times that of Hong Kong stocks, showing a stark disparity in trading activity between Hong Kong and US markets. Despite having a total market value of nearly HK$65 billion, the poor Hong Kong stock liquidity directly constrained key needs such as corporate financing, shareholder structure optimization, and existing shareholder reductions, making liquidity improvement an urgent priority.
**Launching HK$2.2 Billion Public Offering to Break Liquidity Deadlock**
To resolve the liquidity dilemma, Kanzhun Limited launched a public share offering on June 25, 2025, ultimately issuing 34.5 million shares at HK$66.0 per share, raising net proceeds of HK$2.2 billion. The new shares were officially listed on July 4.
This offering model differed from the common "lightning placement" in Hong Kong stock markets (which only targets institutional investors and can easily lead to concentrated holdings and subsequent declining trading activity). This offering allowed Hong Kong retail investors to participate, a design that became key to boosting liquidity. Market feedback showed the Hong Kong portion was oversubscribed 12.04 times, while the international placement portion (institutional subscription) was oversubscribed 12.46 times. The inclusion of retail investors directly changed Kanzhun Limited's previous Hong Kong stock pattern of "concentrated institutional holdings with insufficient trading motivation": dispersed retail holdings generated more daily small-scale trading demand, laying the foundation for subsequent liquidity improvement.
According to statistics, since 2010, only Kanzhun Limited and Prudential have chosen this type of public additional issuance model in the Hong Kong stock market. Company management clearly stated that the core objective of this offering was to enhance Hong Kong market liquidity, targeting all Hong Kong individual and institutional investors, allowing more participants to share in the company's growth dividends through "new stock subscription." Kanzhun Limited founder, Chairman and CEO Zhao Peng further emphasized confidence in the company's prospects: "On one hand, our business model has been validated to serve clients across different industries, regions, and scales; on the other hand, among China's vast enterprise market, the proportion of enterprises we currently serve remains relatively low, with ample growth potential."
**Liquidity Significantly Recovers but "Stuck" at Stock Connect Threshold - Low Additional Issuance Ratio Among Constraining Factors**
After the additional shares were listed, combined with recent overall Hong Kong stock market momentum, Kanzhun Limited's Hong Kong stock liquidity experienced significant improvement. Data shows that compared to the period from early 2025 to before the additional issuance listing, the company's post-issuance Hong Kong stock daily average trading volume jumped from HK$1.24 million to HK$35.2 million, an increase of approximately 28.4 times. Daily average turnover rate improved from 0.002% to 0.05%, an increase of approximately 23.7 times, demonstrating significant liquidity improvement.
However, it should be noted that as a company with weighted voting rights indicated by "-W" in its stock code, Kanzhun Limited faces higher thresholds for Stock Connect inclusion than ordinary companies, requiring satisfaction of two additional core conditions: first, daily average market value of no less than HK$20 billion for 183 consecutive Hong Kong trading days; second, total trading volume of no less than HK$6 billion for 183 consecutive Hong Kong trading days. From current progress, the company still faces a considerable gap to reach this target - as of September 16, 2025, within 183 calendar days after the additional share listing, 53 Hong Kong trading days have passed (183 calendar days include at most 131 Hong Kong trading days). During this period, Hong Kong stock total trading volume was only HK$1.87 billion, completing only 31% of the HK$6 billion target, and this figure already includes HK$240 million in trading volume on the first day of additional share listing. To meet Stock Connect trading volume requirements, the company's Hong Kong stock daily average trading volume in remaining trading days needs to reach at least HK$53 million, making target achievement quite challenging.
One reason why liquidity improvement has not matched Stock Connect thresholds lies in the "conservative nature" of this public additional issuance - the company only issued 34.5 million shares, representing only 3.63% of issued shares, with new shares accounting for a limited proportion of total share capital. This means the core problem of small Hong Kong stock float and insufficient trading chip supply has not been fundamentally resolved: even though new shares brought short-term trading enthusiasm, it is difficult to form long-term, sustained high trading volume support, ultimately resulting in liquidity improvement that failed to break through the critical threshold required for Stock Connect inclusion.
**CTO Zhang Tao Reduces Holdings Multiple Times in US Market After Hong Kong Additional Issuance, Cashing Out Total of US$14.28 Million**
Notably, after this Hong Kong stock additional issuance, Kanzhun Limited's Chief Technology Officer Zhang Tao cumulatively reduced holdings of 1.21 million shares in the US market from August 26 to September 11, at an average price of US$11.80 per share, cashing out a total of US$14.28 million.
This choice essentially resulted from Hong Kong-US liquidity differences: after the Hong Kong additional issuance, US stocks still maintained daily average trading volume of HK$640 million and turnover rate of 0.800%, better able to smoothly accommodate large-scale reductions without significant stock price volatility. Hong Kong stocks, even after additional issuance, still only had daily average trading volume of HK$35.2 million, unable to support equivalent-scale transactions. Therefore, Zhang Tao's reduction did not directly impact Hong Kong stock liquidity that was just beginning to recover.
However, during the company's critical stage of pursuing Stock Connect inclusion, executive reductions still carry potential risks. On one hand, investors might interpret this as an "insider signal of caution regarding short-term prospects," especially as newly added Hong Kong retail investors are more sensitive to risk. If the company fails to timely solidify confidence with performance highlights or business progress, it might weaken trading enthusiasm, creating a counterbalance to the "boost Hong Kong stock liquidity" objective. On the other hand, if the market consequently generates expectations of "other executives or early shareholders following with reductions," it might lead capital to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, further increasing the difficulty of achieving the Stock Connect requirement of "daily average HK$53 million trading volume."
Kanzhun Limited has initially alleviated Hong Kong stock liquidity challenges through public additional issuance, with its model providing reference for similar returning Chinese concept stocks. However, it currently still faces dual challenges of "unmet Stock Connect thresholds" and "potential risks from executive reductions." Going forward, the company needs to stabilize market confidence through disclosure of positive business developments and optimized shareholder communication, while promoting further expansion of Hong Kong stock float, finding balance between "shareholder return realization" and "market stability" - this will be key to achieving balanced development across Hong Kong and US markets.