(Yicai Global) Sept. 7 -- There are likely to be as many or more Chinese companies going public on the mainland this year than last year as enthusiasm is still high despite volatility in the global markets, The Paper reported yesterday, citing a senior executive at Swiss banking giant UBS’ securities joint venture in China.

"As China's economy gradually recovers, the mainland stock markets are showing an upward trend," Sun Lijun, co-head of Global Investment Banking at UBS Securities, said at a UBS investment banking conference on Sept. 6.

Some 254 companies had gone public on the mainland bourses this year as of Aug. 31, and 966 are in the queue to do so, according to data from corporate information platform Wind. This compares with 524 firms that listed on the mainland in 2021, the most since 2000.

China's mainland markets are less affected by negative global factors and can be expected to continue to benefit from capital investment in the technology sector, as well as a number of new stock connect programs with overseas exchanges, said Jin Hongyi, head of UBS Investment Bank Asia Pacific.

The mergers and acquisitions market will remain active and facilitate industry consolidation while providing solutions for entrepreneurs, multinational corporations and financial investors to adjust their asset portfolios, Jin said. The environmental, social and corporate governance and new economy segments will remain in the spotlight for the foreseeable future, he added.

The 254 companies that have already gone public this year bagged CNY423.1 billion (USD60.6 billion). This is already almost as much as the CNY543.7 billion raised during the whole of last year, which was a 13.1 percent gain from the previous year with 524 companies and the highest amount since 2000.

Of those that have listed, 47 did so on the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards raising CNY118.2 billion (USD16.9 billion), 98 were on Shenzhen’s growth enterprise market raising CNY120.9 billion, 82 were on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style Star Market raising CNY179 billion and 27 were in Beijing raising CNY4.9 billion.

Of those that are waiting to list, 283 firms have applied to the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen, 164 to the Star Market, 392 to the growth enterprise market and 127 to the Beijing bourse.

Editor: Kim Taylor