Astana Panel Explores Hong Kong Capital Routes for Central Asian Firms

In September 2026, financial leaders and exchange executives gathered in Astana to discuss how Central Asian companies can connect with international capital through Hong Kong.

The panel, titled “Capital Pathways for Central Asia, Dual Listings, RMB Funding, Private Capital and the Astana-Hong Kong Route,” featured Assel Mukazhanova of AIX, Johnson Chui of HKEX, Askar Bilisbekov of Alem Capital Management, and Thomas G. Tsao of Gobi Partners, with SCMP’s Eugene Tang moderating.

Mukazhanova noted that Kazakhstan’s domestic market cannot fully meet regional financing demand, while Bilisbekov highlighted that Alem Capital Management is operating two funds, including a venture capital fund investing regionally and globally, alongside plans for an infrastructure fund.

Hong Kong Listing Halo

Venture capital firms operating between East and Central Asia view Hong Kong regulatory scrutiny as a vetting mechanism for international fund managers hesitant about frontier markets. Thomas G. Tsao, founding partner of Gobi Partners, pointed out that Hong Kong listings provide emerging Central Asian companies with regulatory credibility similar to how early Chinese tech firms used Nasdaq listings to establish trust with global institutional backers.

For institutional investors across Asia, the channel offers exposure to Central Asia’s tech and natural resources sectors without navigating fragmented local legal structures. The primary operational risk rests on liquidity: smaller Central Asian tech firms must demonstrate sufficient scale and recurring revenue to attract trading volume once listed in Hong Kong, rather than becoming dormant secondary listings.

Talent and Regional Trade Routes

Central Asian founders increasingly build software and services designed to interface across Chinese, Russian, and Western commercial systems. Tsao noted that the region’s multilingual, mobile-first workforce gives early-stage companies an advantage in operating across multiple trade jurisdictions simultaneously.

The push to build financial corridors follows years of physical trade expansion between China and Central Asia along traditional overland freight routes. Financial institutions in Astana now aim to match those physical supply chains with institutional capital flows, moving Central Asian funding beyond bilateral state debt into equity markets.

Broadening the Investor Base

Market participants also view the Hong Kong link as a way to diversify capital sources, reducing concentration risk from single-nation strategic investors in resource extraction and mining. Channelling investments through public equity and institutional funds brings a wider mix of global asset managers into Central Asian enterprises.

AIX and its regional partners are now screening candidate companies for initial dual-listing pipelines and private rounds, with the first wave of cross-border listings targeted as market benchmarks.