A decline in initial public offerings caused equity financing by Chinese companies to fall significantly in the first half of this year, industry data showed.
Proceeds raised by Chinese companies from equity financing, including IPOs, follow-on offerings and convertible bond issues, totaled $24.8 billion in the second quarter, up 2.8 percent from the first quarter.
The total proceeds so far this year came to $48.9 billion, a 49.5 percent year-on-year slump, data compiled by Thomson Reuters showed.
The number of deals plunged 50.4 percent from the same period last year.
Chinese firms raised an aggregate US$8.2 billion from IPOs worldwide in the first half, a tumble of 79.2 percent year on year, according to the data.
The drop in equity financing was the result of the Chinese securities regulator slowing the pace of domestic IPO approvals as it sought to reassure investors following the massive stock market crash last summer.
IPO proceeds from the A-share market plunged 82.4 percent to $4.1 billion so far this year, the slowest start to a year since 2013, according to the data.
Total follow-on offerings also fell — 37.9 percent from the comparable period of last year — to $30.5 billion in proceeds for Chinese companies so far this year.
They raised $10.2 billion via convertibles, up 20.6 percent year on year, boosted by Softbank Group Corp’s US$6.6 billion mandatory exchangeable trust securities that are exchangeable into Alibaba American Depository Shares in three years.
