July 5 (Reuters) – Chinese companies may raise a record 500 billion yuan ($73.86 billion) via IPOs this year after a record first half as companies race to tap the stock market for funds, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Monday.
The first-half saw 176 IPOs raising as much as 212.7 billion yuan as compared to no listings in the year-ago period, PwC said.
PwC, which raised its full-year projection from 320 billion yuan previously, expected the number of new listings in China to reach 300 this year, including 25 listings in Shanghai and 275 on the Shenzhen exchange.
Chinese companies raised a total 187.9 billion yuan from the IPO market for the whole of 2009, it said.
“China’s economic growth is expected to continue in the second half of the year. Unless some negative factors emerge, IPOs in Shanghai and Shenzhen will maintain the momentum and are likely to reach historical heights this year,” Charles Feng, PwC Beijing lead partner, told reporters.
China will likely see the world’s second biggest IPO this month when Agricultural Bank of China [ABC.UL], the country’s third-biggest lender by assets, completes its giant dual-lising in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
AgBank’s IPO could raise up to $20.2 billion, excluding a greenshoe, or overallotment option, just a tad smaller than Industrial and Commercial Bank’s (1398.HK) (601398.SS) record $21.9 billion offering in 2006. [ID:nTOE66102S]
AgBank is scheduled to price its IPO later this week.
Other sizeable IPOs expected this year include Industrial Securities’ planned Shanghai listing which will raise roughly $500 million, and Ningbo Port’s planned $1.9 billion offering.
($1=6.770 Yuan)
(Reporting by Soo Ai Peng; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)
