(Yicai Global) Dec. 28 -- The number of Chinese companies listing on US stock markets climbed to an all-time high of 25 this year amid a bull market.

Between them, the businesses raised USD4 billion, China News Service said, citing a report published yesterday by accountants Ernst & Young. There were almost three times as many such initial public offerings than last year, while the value of funds raised jumped 83 percent.

"Chinese firms picked a good time to list in the US," CNS quoted Tang Zhehui, audit services partner at Ernst & Young, as saying in the report. More are preparing to IPO there in 2018, he added.
Shares of Jack Ma's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which listed in New York in 2014, and internet behemoth Baidu Inc. [NASDAQ:BIDU], which joined the Nasdaq in 2005, hit record highs this year.
The favored sectors for China Concept Stocks, or Chinese companies listed outside the mainland that have substantial assets or earnings in it, has shifted over the past few years, Tang added. Social media and internet companies sought US listings back in 2011 before a swing to e-commerce in 2014. More recently, education and internet finance firms have looked to go public in the States, he said. 

Fintech companies haven't had much success so far. Four such businesses have listed in the US this year: Qudian Inc. [NYSE:QD], Hexindai Inc. [NASDAQ:HX], Ppdai Group Inc. [NYSE:PPDF] and Jianpu Technology Inc. [NYSE:JT]. But Chinese regulators have since tightened standards in the sector and the companies' shares are trading below their IPO prices.

Ernst & Young's report also said the total number of companies going public in the US surged 84 percent on the year to 174, with the amount of money they secured jumping 55 percent to USD39.5 billion.