Global wealthy families look to Hong Kong to seize China’s EV, AI, biotech opportunities

Many wealthy families in Asia, the Middle East and Europe are exploring Hong Kong as a platform to tap growing investment opportunities in electric vehicles (EVs), artificial intelligence, biotech and even property in mainland China, according to a Swiss family office investment firm.\n“Hong Kong is the gateway to China, which makes it very efficient doing business here,” said Marcus Sasse, co-founder and managing partner of Club Estate, in an exclusive interview.\nHe added that the firm had started to look at opportunities in the Chinese real estate market. “After they went through a rough patch, things are moving up,” he said.\nBesides real estate, many overseas family offices wanted Club Estate to help identify investment opportunities in EVs, AI and biotech in mainland China, Sasse said.\nClub Estate, launched in 2018 in Zurich, has offices in Luxembourg, Singapore and Hong Kong. It focuses on identifying private investment projects for family offices – entities created by affluent individuals or families to manage their investments, succession planning and philanthropic activities.\nThe company has 700 million Swiss francs (US$884 million) under management.\nIn his policy address in September, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu set a new target of attracting an additional 220 family offices to the city by 2028, after achieving the previous goal of bringing in 200 such firms between 2023 and 2025. This followed tax incentives introduced in 2023 and the launch of an investment-migration scheme last year.\nSasse was in Hong Kong last week to meet a number of family offices to advise them on European opportunities, while he and his team scouted private investment opportunities in the city for his clients in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.\n\n\nHe said many family offices in Asia, the Middle East and Europe were traditionally very focused on US dollar-denominated assets, but now wanted to spread their investments among different currencies amid global trade tensions triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.\n“Family offices want to diversify their investment allocations away from the US dollar,” he said. “They do not want to put all their eggs in one basket. One good example is the Swiss franc, which has a zero per cent prime lending rate in Switzerland and has steadily risen against the dollar over many years.”\nWhile he credited the Hong Kong government’s many efforts, such as the tax incentives, for helping to attract overseas family offices, the region’s growth opportunities were the most important factor, he said.\n“The driver of growth is innovation,” he said. “We have seen strong growth in companies [involved in] EVs, AI and biotech, which are topics very high on the agenda of family offices who want to have investments that can generate stable income and high yield.”\nThe benchmark Hang Seng Index has soared by more than 30 per cent this year as international investors flocked to mainland tech stocks. Meanwhile, average daily turnover in the stock market doubled from a year earlier to more than US$33 billion, with 80 stock listings raising more than US$26 billion and propelling the city to the top of the global ranking of initial public offering venues.\nWhile China’s property market had been weak in recent years, with large developers led by China Evergrande Group going into default and in some cases liquidation, Sasse said overseas investors had not been scared away.\n“Crisis creates opportunities,” he said. “Family offices are also taking a very long-term view.”\nHong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and Switzerland were all competing in the wealth-management space, but family offices would avoid choosing a single centre, Sasse said. Instead, they would use different venues to access different opportunities.\n“Singapore has its advantages with access to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, while Hong Kong is the gateway to mainland China and has a long and rich history as a financial centre,” he said. “Switzerland has a stable currency, and it is a gateway to other European markets for Asian family offices.”\n