Stephenson Harwood lands Hogan Lovells duo as Hong Kong IPO boom continues

Stephenson Harwood has hired two capital markets partners from Hogan Lovells in Hong Kong, as City firms continue to move to capitalise on the city’s IPO boom.

Sammy Li and Samson Suen have joined the firm’s corporate practice, bringing experience across IPOs, fundraising, M&A and listed company compliance.

Li has more than 25 years’ experience and has advised on over 100 IPOs, while Suen focuses on equity capital markets and corporate finance work. Both spent close to a decade at Hogan Lovells, having previously worked together at Paul Hastings.

Hong Kong IPO boom

The hires come as Hong Kong’s IPO market continues to perform strongly after topping global rankings in 2025 with $34.3 billion raised across 100 listings.

Activity has remained robust this year, with a record January and nearly $14 billion raised in the first quarter alone. Around 500 companies are currently in the pipeline to list.

Against that backdrop, firms have been moving to scale up their capital markets capability in the city. In February, DLA Piper landed a 13-lawyer capital markets team from Sidley in Hong Kong.

Stephenson Harwood’s Greater China managing partner Evangeline Quek said Li and Suen are “market-leading lawyers, with experience advising on some of the most significant corporate deals in Hong Kong and Greater China”.

She said the Hong Kong IPO market was very active, particularly in sectors such as energy transition and transportation, and expects that momentum to continue.

Stephenson Harwood’s Hong Kong office is its largest in Asia and currently has around 25 partners.