Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    INITIAL public offerings (IPOs) declined steeply on the Chinese mainland in the first half of the year as the market took time to adapt to new regulations, while the Hong Kong stock market remained a bright spot, business consultancy PwC said in a new report.

    At 61, A share IPO volume is 67 percent lower and at 28.8 billion yuan (US$4.33 billion), total capital raised is 80 percent down from the first half of 2015, it noted.

    Among the 61 IPOs on the A share market in the first half of 2016, 26 were listed on the Shanghai main board, raising 13.4 billion yuan, with the majority coming from industry, consumer goods and services sectors.

    The Shenzhen SME board had 15 listings over the period, which raised a total of 8.3 billion yuan, also mainly in industry, consumer goods and services sectors.

    The remaining 20 listings were on the Shenzhen ChiNext board, raising a total of 7.1 billion yuan, predominantly from the information technology and telecommunications sectors.

    “The latest IPO regulations that came into effect in 2016 reformed the prior rules governing the purchase of new shares, particularly with regard to payment before purchase,” said Frank Lyn, a PwC markets leader.

    “The adaptations have led to a reduction in the new share issues on the secondary market.”

    Li expects that the number of A share IPOs in the second half of the year to be more or less the same as that seen in the first half.

    Hong Kong still ranked as the world’s No. 1 market in terms of amount of IPOs and sum of capital raised in the first half of 2016.