Central Asia’s “Financial Awakening”: From Dim Sum Bonds to IPOs

By Kelly in Tokyo

On September 10, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan listed RMB3.7 billion worth of dim sum bonds on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The bonds, denominated in offshore renminbi and issued in five- and ten-year tranches, marked the largest dim sum bond deal to date by a quasi-sovereign issuer from Central Asia.

It was not an isolated transaction.

In the same month, Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company completed a RMB3.5 billion dim sum bond issuance, attracting more than RMB25 billion in orders and achieving an oversubscription rate of more than seven times.

Earlier, in June, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the national railway operator, filed for a Hong Kong listing, with proceeds intended partly for construction of a new railway border crossing to China. Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po later said that more Central Asian state-owned infrastructure companies were considering listings in Hong Kong.

Bonds, IPOs and dual listings are beginning to reshape Central Asia’s relationship with global capital. The region is moving, gradually, from being primarily a supplier of resources to becoming a more active participant in international capital markets.

First Bonds, Then IPOs

Dim sum bonds have become an important first step.

The Development Bank of Kazakhstan first entered Hong Kong’s offshore RMB bond market last year and has now increased the size of its issuance to RMB3.7 billion. The inclusion of a ten-year tranche is particularly notable, suggesting investors are willing to take longer-duration exposure to Central Asian quasi-sovereign credit.

Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company provided an even stronger market signal.

Its RMB3.5 billion offering attracted more than RMB25 billion in orders. BOCI, Bank of China (Hong Kong), China CITIC Bank International, ICBC (Asia) and Citi acted as joint global coordinators. The bonds carried a 2.3% coupon and a 2.45% yield.

For a state-owned issuer from a resource-heavy Central Asian economy, the pricing suggests that global investors are increasingly willing to treat its credit risk as investable.

Xu Jingwei, head of global listing services at HKEX, recently highlighted Hong Kong’s role, noting that the city’s large offshore RMB liquidity pool and active dim sum bond market give Central Asian issuers access to a wider international investor base.

By September, more than 180 new bonds had been listed on HKEX this year.

Bond and Equity Markets Are Moving Together

Debt markets answer the question of where funding comes from. Equity markets answer how companies are valued.

Central Asian issuers are now pushing on both fronts.

KTZ’s IPO application is the clearest example. The railway operator is wholly owned by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna. Last year, it reported revenue of $5.646 billion, up 27.41%, while profit rose 114% to $718 million.

According to its listing documents, KTZ plans to use part of the proceeds to build the 272-kilometer Bakhty-Ayagoz railway line and related infrastructure. The project would create an additional rail border crossing with China and is intended to increase cross-border freight capacity from around 50 million tonnes to 100 million tonnes a year.

CICC is acting as the sole sponsor.

KTZ’s ambitions also extend beyond Hong Kong. Samruk-Kazyna is preparing for a possible three-market listing involving the London Stock Exchange, HKEX and the Astana International Exchange (AIX).

There is already a precedent.

In August 2025, Kazakhstan tungsten producer Jiaxin International Resources completed a simultaneous listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange main board and AIX’s Belt and Road Market. It became the first Central Asian company to complete such a dual listing and the region’s first RMB-denominated equity.

The arrangement was unusual: the shares trade in Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong and in renminbi on AIX.

That made the listing not only a fundraising exercise, but also an experiment in linking RMB internationalization with Belt and Road capital markets.

HKEX CEO Bonnie Y. Chan has previously said she hopes the number of Central Asian companies seeking Hong Kong listings can increase severalfold.

Hong Kong Is Becoming a Platform, Not Just a Gateway

The attraction of Hong Kong is straightforward.

Central Asian companies gain access to deeper pools of capital, offshore RMB liquidity and a regulatory framework familiar to international investors.

But the relationship is now moving beyond simple fundraising.

In June 2026, HKEX signed memoranda of understanding with both the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) and the Astana International Exchange.

The agreements cover green finance, commodities trading, financing for early-stage mining projects and cross-border listings. They also promote dual primary and secondary equity listings, as well as cross-border debt listings.

AIFC operates under an English common-law framework, allows 100% foreign ownership and imposes no currency controls.

The cooperation between HKEX and AIFC therefore represents more than a capital channel. It is also an effort to connect two financial centers built around internationally familiar legal and market rules.

More than 100 companies from Belt and Road economies are already listed in Hong Kong, with a combined market value of over HK$340 billion.

Paul Chan has described Hong Kong’s ties with the Global South as expanding “from individual points into a broader network.”

The Logic Behind Central Asia’s Financial Shift

For decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asian economies were largely defined by resource exports: oil, gas and minerals were sold abroad, generating foreign currency that flowed back into government budgets and domestic investment.

The weakness of that model is clear. The region does not fully control the pricing of its resources, nor does it have deep domestic capital markets capable of allocating large amounts of capital efficiently.

Dim sum bonds and IPOs begin to change the second part of that equation.

When the Development Bank of Kazakhstan can issue a ten-year RMB bond in Hong Kong, or when KTZ can seek a valuation from international investors through an IPO, Central Asian economies begin to participate more directly in the pricing of capital itself.

The transition is still at an early stage. Domestic capital markets remain shallow, corporate governance standards vary, and many companies still need to improve transparency and alignment with international accounting practices.

But the direction is becoming clearer.

From Central Asia to Hong Kong, a new pathway is taking shape:

resources → capital → rules.

Behind the RMB3.7 billion bond, KTZ’s $5.6 billion in revenue and its 100-million-tonne freight target lies a broader ambition: to use Hong Kong’s liquidity and market infrastructure to redefine Central Asia’s relationship with global finance.