HKIC portfolio yields stable returns, eyes biotech and AI growth firms
Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) Chief Executive Clara Chan said the government investment arm focuses on early- and growth-stage companies in biotechnology and artificial intelligence. The portfolio achieved a net internal rate of return of 14 per cent as of end of 2025, with every HK$1 inve
The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), the government's long-term capital investment arm, is committed to investing in growth-stage enterprises such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence, with the overall portfolio delivering stable returns, Chief Executive Clara Chan Ka-chai said on Monday.
Speaking at the Surgical Futures Forum 2026, Chan noted that HKIC put more than 70 per cent of invested capital in early- and growth-stage companies. Its investment portfolio achieved a net internal rate of return of 14 per cent as of the end of 2025.
“The questions for us are what Hong Kong and the world need, say, 5 to 10 years from now, and how we can get there with a solid commercial trajectory and strategic footing, rather than whether a portfolio company could be exited and generate a return to us tomorrow, next quarter or next year,” Chan said.
HKIC-invested local surgical robotics firm Cornerstone Robotics recently received a US$700 million (HK$5.46 billion) strategic investment from US healthcare giant Medtronic, one of the largest single strategic investments in the Asia-Pacific surgical robotics sector, Chan said. She added that in the Cornerstone Robotics case, for every HK$1 that HKIC put in, the market and industry validated it by bringing in more than HK$16.
Chan said HKIC might be able to leverage more than HK$8 in long-term market capital for every HK$1 invested that it usually quoted, supported by the joint efforts of its partners and companies, as well as the city's differentiating advantages.