HKIC

Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited Leads Delegation to Southeast Asia to Explore Regional Opportunities for Ecosystem Partners (August 2025)

Highlights:

  • The HKIC led its inaugural overseas delegation comprising more than 10 enterprises to Malaysia and Brunei, with the focus on enabling in-depth exchanges with senior executives from a total of more than 40 patient capital institutions, industry partners, government bodies and academic institutions in both countries, with a view to facilitating the HKIC’s ecosystem partners on market expansion, accelerating cross-jurisdictional interactions of financial and investment markets in a mutually beneficial manner, and promoting applications of innovation and technology (“I&T”). Total assets under management of the attending institutions from Malaysia and Brunei were over HK$4 trillion.

  • The delegation engaged with local enterprises in cutting-edge areas such as Hard and Core Technology, Biotech, and New Energy and Green Technology, fostering investment cooperation, talent and application scenario exploration across different fields, laying the foundation for future strategic partnerships.

  • The HKIC will continue to lead its ecosystem partners to visit the ASEAN region, Middle East, Europe and other regions to further aggregate international patient capital and promote investment, talent, and innovation technology collaborations, with a view to providing support to enterprises in expanding regional market and diversifying investor base.

 

(Hong Kong, 1st August) The Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (“HKIC”) led a delegation comprising more than 10 enterprises to visit Malaysia and Brunei during 28 July and 1 August 2025. The delegation met with senior executives from more than 40 patient capital institutions, private equity firms, industry partners, government bodies, financial and academic institutions for in-depth exchanges, including Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Employees Provident Fund, Permodalan Nasional Berhad and Brunei Investment Agency. The discussion aimed to explore ways to leverage local patient capital institutions to facilitate the HKIC’s ecosystem partners on market expansion and collaboration with industry players, accelerating cross-jurisdictional interactions of financial and investment markets in a mutually beneficial manner, and promoting applications of I&T. Gobi Partners served as the strategic partner for organising this delegation.

Ms Clara Chan, Chief Executive Officer of the HKIC stated: "This is our inaugural delegation visit to the ASEAN region, during which we further exchanged with patient capital institutions, and other investment and industry institutions in the region. They expressed keen interest and showed pressing demand for investing in enterprises in the HKIC’s ecosystem. Opportunities for multi-dimensional investment collaborations, as well as talent and technology exchanges were also initiated during the visit. We involved representatives of more than ten enterprises in the HKIC’s ecosystem in this delegation, and achieved two major purposes: broadening potential sources and choices of investors for our enterprises and facilitating these enterprises to better understand the characteristics and focus areas of these investment institutions; at the same time enabling investment institutions from Malaysia and Brunei to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the products and services offered by our enterprises, promoting bilateral exploration of more diversified application scenarios and initiating opportunities for cross-jurisdictional business collaborations."  

During the visit, the HKIC organised various investment-focused and industry-facing meetings and events in Malaysia and Brunei, enabling participating ecosystem partners to have in-depth dialogues with local patient capital institutions, private equity firms and the industry players. Total assets under management of the attending institutions from Malaysia and Brunei were over HK$4 trillion.

 

Expanding Market Footprint to Malaysia, Focusing on Cutting-edge Technology and Cross-jurisdictional Investment Collaborations

Malaysia is one of the earliest jurisdictions in the ASEAN region that developed the patient capital setup, and has already announced the focus on artificial intelligence in its RMK13 for 2026 to 2030. During the visit to Malaysia, the delegation met with various Malaysian patient capital institutions, including Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Employees Provident Fund, Permodalan Nasional Berhad, as well as Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, etc., and other ecosystem partners. Key discussion topics included Hard and Core Technology, Biotech, New Energy and Green Technology, Fintech, and cross-jurisdictional investment collaborations.

 

Deepening Collaborations with Brunei, Promoting Technological Innovation and Sustainable Development

Brunei is one of the earliest jurisdictions in the ASEAN region that developed the patient capital setup. Also, Brunei is situated on the Borneo Island, and is characterised by its abundant natural resources and a relatively small population. In terms of GDP per capita and urbanisation rate, Brunei is among the top few in the ASEAN region. It also has the highest internet penetration rate among all ASEAN jurisdictions. With the interplay of all these factors, Brunei becomes an ideal market for I&T applications and a potential partner for investment collaborations.

During the Brunei visit, the delegation met with the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Brunei, Brunei Economic Development Board, Brunei Investment Agency, and various local financial institutions to explore collaborations in the aspects of investment and I&T applications.

 

Thomas G. Tsao, Co-founder and Chairperson of Gobi Partners, the strategic partner of this delegation, stated: "This delegation led by the HKIC to Southeast Asia has brought positive contributions to promoting regional technology ecosystem collaborations. Gobi Partners has long been deeply rooted in the Asian venture capital market. We understand that the Southeast Asia market is an important market that cannot be overlooked in the process of Chinese enterprises 'going global'. It also provides rich-practical application scenarios for technology products and services. The HKIC’s delegation not only connected enterprises with patient capital institutions, governments, and industry resources, but also built sustainable cross-border bridges."

Enterprise representatives participating in the delegation shared that the Southeast Asia trip was fruitful, as it not only allowed them to connect with patient capital institutions, private equity institutions, industry partners, government bodies, financial and academic institutions in Malaysia and Brunei, but also provided in-depth insights regarding local market demand. The HKIC’s global resource network provided support for enterprises to expand their overseas businesses.

Malaysia representatives expressed keen interest in investing in technology enterprises or technology collaboration in Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area, and believed that the exchange this time helped accelerate the integration and innovation of cross-jurisdictional ecosystems. They welcomed more exchanges and collaboration discussions in future visits by promising technology enterprises. Meanwhile, the HKIC has been an important bridge for helping enterprises develop overseas presence. They looked forward to jointly exploring more investment opportunities going forward.

Brunei participants indicated that Brunei was actively promoting economic diversification, particularly in digital transformation and sustainable technology fields. The exchange this time laid a solid foundation for future strategic collaborations between both sides. In addition, the HKIC’s ecosystem partners were well aligned with Brunei’s long-term development goals, paving the way for jointly exploring new opportunities in the ASEAN market.

In addition to meeting with officials and institutional representatives from Malaysia and Brunei in economic and technology fields, the delegation also interacted with personnel and researchers from Brunei Innovation Lab, Baiduri Bank, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Securities Commission Malaysia, and Asia School of Business. This fully demonstrated the HKIC’s all-rounded engagement in the "investment, industry, academia, research and government" aspects with a view to optimising various dimensions of the technology development ecosystem. Looking ahead, the HKIC will continue to organise delegations for overseas visits, bringing together enterprise representatives to engage patient capital institutions, and other financial and investment institutions in the ASEAN region, Middle East, Europe and other regions, with a view to providing support to enterprises in expanding regional market and diversifying investor base.

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About HKIC

The HKIC was established and is wholly owned by the HKSAR Government. As Patient Capital, it carries a dual mandate - seeking reasonable financial return in the medium to long term through optimising the use of fiscal reserves, and leveraging its ability to guide and channel capital to build a more vibrant innovation and technology ecosystem and industry chain.

The HKIC manages HK$62 billion currently, covering the “Hong Kong Growth Portfolio”, “Greater Bay Area Investment Fund”, “Strategic Tech Fund” and “Co-Investment Fund”. At this stage, it is focusing on three key sectors, namely Hard and Core Technology, Biotech, and New Energy and Green Technology.