Chinese firms raise $154.8 bn from A-share mkts last year

BEIJING: Chinese listed companies raised 1.02 trillion yuan (USD 154.8 billion) of funds through their financing activities in the A-share stock markets last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) today said.

According to the CSRC data, a record 531 listed companies conducted financing activities in the A-share markets in 2010.

The 1.02 trillion yuan of funds raised in the markets was an all-time high for China's equity markets.

Among the raised funds, a record 488.3 billion yuan (USD 74.1 billion) was raised by 347 companies during their initial public offerings (IPOs) last year, making China the largest IPO market in the global equity markets, Xinhua reported.

The figure was more than what many economists and institutions forecast at the beginning of 2010, as they expected Chinese companies to raise only around 320 billion yuan (USD 48.56 billion) from IPOs for the year.

The amount of funds raised through new listings reached 185.6 billion yuan (USD 28 billion) in China in 2009.

Chinese capital markets have developed rapidly since 2005 when China launched a reform on non-tradable shares to improve market liquidity.

Before the reform, some 6 billion yuan (USD 910 million) of funds were raised through financing activities in the Chinese markets in 2005.