Shanghai's booming stock market is expected to double the value of its initial public offerings this year and could eclipse the Hong Kong bourse in fund raising, according to a new report.

 

The Hong Kong market attracted more than US$34.1 billion in IPO capital last year - the most in the world and nearly 16 percent of the global total. The special administrative region was followed by the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.

 

Shanghai's market is expected to rake in 280 billion yuan (US$35.9 billion) in IPOs this year, compared with 146.3 billion yuan last year, the accounting firm Ernst & Young said in a report.

 

"The return of Hong Kong-listed companies is likely to dominate the IPOs in Shanghai in 2007," the report said.

 

The country is encouraging its big-cap firms to list shares on the mainland to boost the equities market, which rebounded last year to record levels from a five-year low.

 

Shanghai's main index gained 130 percent last year as China resumed new stock listings in May after a campaign to convert non-tradable state shares into public shares.

 

The Bank of China kicked off the return of H-share, or Hong Kong-listed, companies in Shanghai in 2006, chalking up 20 billion yuan on the city's bourse in July. It was followed by Air China, the country's biggest international carrier, which raised 4.6 billion yuan in late 2006.

 

China Life Insurance, the country's biggest insurer, and Ping An Insurance, the country's second-bigger insurer, are expected to list in Shanghai this year.

 

Beijing-based China Life is expected to raise 28.32 billion yuan by selling 1.5 billion worth of yuan-denominated A shares, analysts said.

 

In 2006, the banking industry raised the most capital on the Shanghai stock market, accounting for 46 percent of total IPO value.

 

Dual listings, or A and H shares, accounted for 46 percent of IPOs in 2006 in Shanghai in terms of capital.

 

The biggest among them was the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's simultaneous dual listing on Oct. 27. The bank raised a total 21.9 billion U.S. dollars, the biggest IPO in the world.

 

The report was based on data provided by Ernst & Young, Dealogic and Thomson Financial.

 

(Shanghai Daily January 4, 2007)