International law firm Simmons & Simmons has advised Commerzbank AG on the first two funds established in Germany to be cross-listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The ComStage 1 DAX® UCITS ETF and ComStage 1 DIVDAX® UCITS ETF, which are UCITS structured as Sondervermögen, will be listed in Hong Kong on 18 May 2016.

Both ETFs give investors in Hong Kong an opportunity to gain exposure to German equity indices. The ComStage 1 DAX® UCITS ETF is designed to track the performance of DAX® TR Index, which contains the 30 largest German companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The ComStage 1 DIVDAX® UCITS ETF is designed to track the performance of DIVDAX Index, which contains the 15 companies in the German benchmark DAX® Index with the highest dividend yields.

Commenting on the work, partner Eva Chan, said: “The cross-listing of these new German UCITS is another step forward for Hong Kong’s growing ETF market. These ETFs will give investors an opportunity to diversify their investments through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Our work on creating and listing these products through our offices in Frankfurt and Hong Kong with Commerzbank AG further demonstrates our expertise in ETFs, particularly given the complexity of achieving regulatory approval in more than one jurisdiction.”

The investment funds team, based primarily in Hong Kong and Singapore, has been the legal adviser to approximately 80% of the ETFs that have been listed in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the second largest market for ETFs by market capitalisation and the third largest market for ETFs by turnover in Asia (including China and Japan).

The Simmons & Simmons team was led by financial markets partners Rolfe Hayden and Eva Chan in Hong Kong and Jochen Kindermann in Frankfurt, assisted by Johannes Bast and Stella Wai, part of the international asset management and investment funds sector group. Commerzbank’s Legal Department in Frankfurt was represented by Dietmar Anders (Divisional Head) and Julia Losakova.