The Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (HKIC), wholly owned by the Hong Kong government, is looking for investment professionals, including a chief executive officer (CEO), to lead its capital pool of approximately HK$62 billion ($7.9 billion).
HKIC, which is viewed by many as the special administrative region’s parallel to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, recently posted the job requirements for vacant positions such as associate director(s) for risk management on its official website.
Additionally, HKIC is still in search of a CEO to helm the company, domestic media outlet ChinaFund reported, citing a reply from the Hong Kong Financial Secretary’s Private Office on August 1. The authority did not immediately respond to DealStreetAsia’s email request for updates.
The government-owned investment company is actively recruiting talent less than one year after its official launch. Hong Kong chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced the launch of HKIC in his maiden policy address in October 2022, tasking the company with the investment activities of:
- The HK$22-billion ($2.8 billion) Hong Kong Growth Portfolio, which was announced in the 2020-21 Budget Speech in 2020 and makes strategic investments in projects with a Hong Kong nexus
- The HK$5-billion ($640.5 million) Greater Bay Area Investment Fund, which was announced in the 2022-23 Budget Speech in 2022 and focuses on investment opportunities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), a megalopolis consisting of nine cities and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau in southern China
- The HK$5-billion Strategic Tech Fund, also announced in the 2022-23 Budget Speech in 2022, which invests in mid-stage innovation and technology startups worldwide, empowering them to scale businesses in Hong Kong and beyond
- The HK$30-billion ($3.8 billion) Co-Investment Fund, announced in the chief executive’s 2022 policy address last October, built to attract enterprises to set up operations in Hong Kong by investing in these businesses
The creation of HKIC to manage the series of government investment funds comes as Hong Kong has been in a race with fast-rising rivals like Singapore to sustain its position as a hub for global capital, cutting-edge technologies, and top talent.
The past few years have seen the Hong Kong government introduce a rather aggressive investment-led strategy to boost the development of its economy and select industries — an approach more similar to the market landscape in mainland China, where governments of all levels have been setting up guidance funds to support domestic tech growth.
In 2022, Hong Kong introduced the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES) to attract talent and businesses in areas like life and health technology, artificial intelligence (AI), data science, fintech, advanced manufacturing, and new energy technology. It set a goal of attracting at least 35,000 high-quality talent each year from 2023-2025.
The city in June also put forward favourable policies, including a 16.5% tax waiver on profits generated from qualified investments, to lure family offices to build a presence there. It aims to rope in at least 200 family offices by 2025.