Hong Kong is expected to remain among the top three initial public offering (IPO) markets worldwide this year, even though it will soon be dethroned by the US Nasdaq, which will host SpaceX’s jumbo flotation.Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing’s (HKEX) main board is poised to lose its crown as the world’s largest market for IPOs when billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial aerospace unit is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, according to the prospectus filed by SpaceX in New York on Wednesday.The filing did not include information about either the timeline or its size, but US media reports said it was expected to list in June and raise up to US$75 billion, which would make it the world’s largest-ever IPO and exceed the US$29.4 billion raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019. The sum would also double the total funds raised from new listings in Hong Kong last year, at US$37.43 billion.However, leading investment banks, including UBS and JPMorgan, remain upbeat about the overall outlook for the Hong Kong IPO market.Hong Kong’s main board could remain in the top three this year, even accounting for the challenges posed by the US exchanges, according to John Lee Chen-kwok, vice-chairman and co-head of Asia coverage at UBS in Hong Kong.“Hong Kong’s IPO market remains active as there are still a lot of international investors interested in investing in mainland technology and other listing candidates due to the strong outlook of the Chinese economy,” Lee said, noting that a large number of companies have listings in the city that were pending.There were about 500 listing candidates waiting to raise funds in the city, compared with about 300 at the end of last year, according to data from HKEX.