The capital raised from initial public offerings (IPO) on China's stock markets look set to fall this year after the record yields by state-owned commercial banks in 2006, according to a forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
"The IPO of greater China will top 58 billion U.S. dollars in 2007," said Frank Lyn, China's markets leader at PwC.
He broke down the total to 37 billion dollars on the mainland markets,20 billion dollars in Hong Kong and one billion dollars in Taiwan.
The IPOs in greater China last year raised 62 billion U.S. dollars, exceeding the 48 billion U.S. dollars raised in the United States for the first time, Lyn said.
He attributed last year's surge to the listings of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, and the Bank of China (BOC), the second largest lender, which together raised 28.8 billion U.S. dollars.
"More domestic companies will get listed on the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges," Lyn said. "Many companies listed in Hong Kong have expressed interest in getting listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges."