Initial public offering activities on China's mainland and Hong Kong slowed down in the first half of 2016 over the state of the economy, industry data showed.
A total of 63 companies — down 66 percent year on year — went public in the A-share market in the first six months, raising 31.7 billion yuan ($4.8 billion), which was a drop of 78 percent from a year earlier, Ernst & Young said in a report yesterday.
The mainland market was dominated by small and medium-sized listings, with the average proceeds down 36 percent from the same period of last year to 503 million yuan per deal, data showed.
"The pace of IPO activity continues to be determined by the regulator as the government seeks to control the flow of new listings to maintain stability in the capital markets," said Wang Yang, EY China A-share leader. "However, investor sentiment for A-share IPOs remains overwhelmingly positive as they continue to make healthy returns," he said.
In the second quarter of this year, every IPO on the mainland rose by the 44 percent maximum allowed on the first day of trading. Industrials led the way both in terms of volume and value, ahead of retail, consumer products and services.
In Hong Kong, the number of IPOs fell 16 percent year on year to 38 in the first half while total proceeds dropped 66 percent to HK$43.6 billion ($5.6 billion).
"The Hong Kong IPO market has been relatively quiet this year due principally to uncertainty around another rise in US interest rates and concerns over China's economic slowdown," said Lawrence Lau, EY China financial accounting advisory services leader.
