TWO mainland companies, a coal-mining-equipment maker and a pharmaceutical firm, aim to raise a combined US$1.1 billion in Hong Kong initial public offerings later this month, people familiar with the situation said late Monday, indicating the drought in new listings in the city may be coming to an end.

The announcements of the planned offerings will restore some life to the city’s IPO market and come after Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 3.6 percent in the past three sessions, which could encourage more companies to list here. The exchange is up 7.6 percent so far this year.

Hong Kong has been relatively quiet on the IPO front in 2012 with deals increasingly hard to get done amid volatile equities markets. The city has fallen to fifth in the world this year for IPOs and new listings, behind the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, after claiming the No. 1 spot in the past three years, according to data provider Dealogic.

One problem for Hong Kong is that its traditional source of IPOs — State-owned enterprises on the mainland — is running dry because most of them have been listed during the past decade.

Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group Co., which is based in Central China’s Henan Province, plans to start taking orders from institutional and retail investors Sept. 24 for its Hong Kong IPO, from which it aims to raise around US$500 million, three people familiar with the situation said Monday.

(SD-Agencies)