Hong Kong’s annual tally of initial public offerings ( IPOs ) shrank this year for the first time since 2017, as a regulatory crackdown on technology companies in mainland China sent a chill through the market and hurt fundraising activity in the second half of 2021. Several accounting firms, including KPMG, Ernst and Young and Deloitte had forecast earlier that the Hong Kong stock exchange would not make it into the top three IPO venues globally this year and was likely to drop to fourth place from second last year. Data from bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX)…