SYDNEY, July 23 Reuters China39;s top companies have raised a record 14 billion in offshore convertible bonds so far this year as they diversify future funding needs while interest rates stay high.

Offshore convertible bonds from mainland China accounted for 22 of global deals, LSEG data showed, after Alibaba Group raised 5 billion in May and Ping An Insurance finalised a 3.5 billion transaction last week.

The amount raised so far this year from China is up 1,588 on the same period in 2023, the data showed, when just 829.3 million was raised in convertible bonds.

The pickup in Chinese convertible bond issuance is giving dealmakers hope that capital market activity will start to lift, especially in Hong Kong, where IPOs are at the lowest point in 15 years. The previous 12month high was 10.9 billion in 2021.

If you think about the typical sequence in which the markets reopen, it39;s typically blocks, primary equity and convertibles that will lead and the last product to reopen is IPOs, said Saurabh Dinakar, cohead of Asia Pacific global capital markets at Morgan Stanley

In the past two years, we didn39;t see activity across any of the products. And frankly, there was a lack of conviction from international investors around investing in Hong Kong and China. I think what39;s changed over the last three months is that some of the confidence has returned.

Dinakar said international investors have shown renewed interest in recent Chinese deals since they exited the…