Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission searched AMTD Group’s office and Choi’s home in February 2021, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information. Investigators were looking into its underwriting arrangements as recently as November, one of the people said. The full scope of the inquiry and its current status are unclear. Some SFC probes never result in charges and those that do can often take years to become public.
The Hong Kong financial group behind an initial public offering that stunned Wall Street by soaring more than 32,000% following its debut has drawn regulatory scrutiny over deals it arranged in the Asian financial hub.
The previously unreported probe by Hong Kong’s securities watchdog into AMTD Group Co., which is run by former UBS Group AG banker Calvin Choi, predates the US listing of its unit AMTD Digital Inc. Despite reporting just US$25 million ($34.5 million) of revenue in the year ending in April 2021, AMTD Digital’s market capitalization briefly surged above US$400 billion in early August – surpassing giants including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The stock has since tumbled more than 90%.
