China likely to see 60% more IPOs in 2015

BEIJING - China is likely to see 60 percent more initial public offerings in 2015 as the securities regulator improves capital market operations, said international auditor PwC on Monday.

Lin Yizhong, managing partner of PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, said around 200 Chinese companies are forecast to raise 130 billion yuan ($21 billion) on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses this year.

In 2014, the two handled 125 IPOs with a combined value of 78.6 billion yuan.

The Shanghai stock exchange is likely to deal with 60 IPOs with a value of 48 billion yuan and the smaller Shenzhen bourse will host the remainder.

Sun Jin, another PwC partner, said a new IPO registration system likely to be rolled out this year to replace the existing approval-based system will likely trigger an IPO boom.