TMT listings raise $2.4b in 2015 H2

There were 14 Chinese technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) initial public offerings in the second half of 2015 garnering 15.5 billion yuan ($2.4 billion), and China would rank the top three by both IPO number and value in 2016, a report of PricewaterhouseCoopers showed on Thursday.

Among those 14, four were cross-border, worth 10.6 billion yuan, which made up 69 percent of the total raised in the period. The main board had four IPOs, which raised 2.8 billion yuan, representing 18 percent of the total amount.

There were also four which raised 1.5 billion yuan on the startup ChiNext market in Shenzhen, comprising 10 percent of the total.

Vincent Cheuk, PwC's private equity group North China leader, said during the second half of 2015, the freeze and subsequent resumption of IPOs led to fewer TMT listings than in the first half.

The average price-to-earnings ratio of A-share listed TMT companies at the end of 2015 was 105, compared with 115 in June and 65 at the end of 2014.

Amanda Zhang, Northern China technology industry leader with PwC, said the limited supply in the A-share market may partly explain the high P/E ratio of TMT companies, but that conditions may change after China introduces its planned registration-based IPO mechanism.

The PwC study also forecast that China will have strong technology IPO activity throughout this year, which it anticipates will place it in a top-three position globally by the year end.

In addition, Chinese capital markets are likely to be among the hottest IPO markets worldwide over the year, it said.

"In the long term, we still expect more high-profile TMT companies to seek A-share listings.

"The development of multi-level capital markets, including the new board for strategic emerging industries in 2016, will have profoundly positive impact on domestic markets," said Zhang.

The report also showed those TMT companies that had previously listed abroad will be less inclined to go private, and in the short term, it expected fewer Chinese companies to list overseas.

"Many Chinese companies listed in the United States have gone private, and those that remain are either performing well in the capital market or feel hesitant to delist because of the high cost of shell companies on the A-share market," said Cheuk.