Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    A RECORD number of Chinese companies in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector went public in the first half of the year, profiting from the stock market boom during that period.

    Forty-two initial public offerings (IPOs) from the TMT sector garnered 22.1 billion yuan (US$3.47 billion) in proceeds during the first six months of the year, PwC’s Shenzhen division said in its latest report.

    Among them, 25 IPOs were on Shenzhen’s growth board ChiNext, raising 10.2 billion yuan in proceeds and accounting for 46 percent of the overall amount raised by the 42 firms, while the SME board for small and medium enterprises had 5 IPOs with 3.2 billion yuan in proceeds, making up approximately 15 percent of the overall amount raised.

    China’s stock market boom in the first half of the year encouraged more companies to sell shares on the domestic market. Only three cross-border IPOs were undertaken by China TMT companies so far this year, with related proceeds valued at 1.3 billion yuan, comprising 6 percent of the overall amount raised.

    “As we can see, a more streamlined and transparent listing procedure for IPOs has made the domestic exchanges more attractive,” Wilson Chow, PwC Chinese mainland/Hong Kong TMT industry leader, told reporters Tuesday.

    “However, the positive momentum is expected to slow down in the second half of 2015 given the temporary freeze on IPOs by the regulatory body to cope with the recent significant capital market fluctuations,” Chow said.

    In the long run, PwC still anticipates significant growth of TMT listings on the domestic exchanges as a result of the introduction of the new registration-based system as well as the continuation of the multi-level capital market reform, Chow said.