(Yicai) Dec. 19 -- Initial public offerings in the Chinese mainland will have more than halved this year by number and the amount of money raised, according to a report by Deloitte’s China unit.

The ranks of businesses listing on China’s A-share market will have shrunk 68 percent to 101 by the end of the year, with funding down 81 percent to CNY68 billion (USD9.5 billion) and no listing bringing in more than CNY5 billion (USD685.1 million), the report said.

Some 95 IPOs have raised CNY61.4 billion in 2024 as of yesterday, compared with 313 and CNY356.5 billion (USD48.8 billion) a year earlier, according to data from Wind Information.

The falloff in dealmaking follows tighter regulatory oversight. In August last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced a phased tightening of IPO approvals to balance investment and financing. The State Council followed that this April with new guidelines emphasizing stricter IPO access criteria and further improvements to the listing system.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges will remain in sixth and eighth place for IPO proceeds this year, with Shanghai making the top five for the fifth consecutive year, according to the Deloitte report. India’s bourse will rank top for the first time ever, followed by the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it said.

“The IPO approvals process may be relaxed somewhat in the first quarter of next year,” Zhao Haizhou, managing partner for A-share listing services in eastern China at Deloitte, told Yicai. “But the long-term focus on quality listings and tech companies will remain unchanged.”

Deloitte expects the number of companies going public and the funds they raise to increase moderately in 2025 as regulators stay focused on quality issuers, tech innovation, and industry consolidation through mergers and acquisitions.

Editor: Futura Costaglione