China may be the world’s biggest initial public offering market this year as companies are likely to raise 500 billion yuan ($74 billion) in Shanghai and Shenzhen, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in Shanghai on Monday.
China will see 300 new listings in 2010, up from 99 last year, according to a statement from PwC. Two overseas companies and one red-chip firm, or company controlled by Chinese holders and listed abroad, will debut on Shanghai’s international board as early as the second half, said Frank Lyn, China markets leader for PwC, without naming the companies. Companies have raised 208.4 billion yuan from 171 IPOs in China this year, setting the market to surpass funds collected in each of the previous two years. China’s securities regulator allowed share sales to resume in June 2009 after a 10-month moratorium imposed to curb stock market volatility during the global financial crisis.
Haitong Securites Co. took the lead in managing domestic IPOs this year, followed by Ping An Securities Co., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Industrial and basic materials companies were the biggest first-time sellers of stock in China this year in terms of the number of deals and funds raised, the data show.
Investment banking fee income more than doubled to $2.3 billion in China and Hong Kong in the first half from the same period a year earlier, according to a report by New York-based research firm Freeman & Co. last week.
