Environment agency delayed 10 IPOs

China’s environmental watchdog, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said it forced the delay of 10 domestic listings last year due to non-compliance with environmental rules, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most of the delayed offerings, including one by China Coal Energy, the country’s second-largest coal producer by output, were later approved, but two companies still have not won regulatory approval. SEPA said it delayed approval for reasons including excessive emissions, insufficient waste-treatment plants and outstanding pollution lawsuits against the companies or their subsidiaries. All the delays came in the second half of 2007, and were seen as examples of SEPA increasingly targeting company purse strings to bring them into environmental compliance.