Surge in Chinese IPOs

China’s stock market regulator has accelerated approvals for initial public offerings in recent months but market watchers say that long-awaited deregulation of the process is still years away, according to the Financial Times. IPO fundraising in Shanghai and Shenzhen has totaled $13bn since November, the biggest three-month total since the second quarter of 2015, when China’s stock market bubble reached its height. The surge of new offerings reflects the relative stability of China’s stock market over the past year. The Shanghai Composite Index is up 19% from its 2016 low point in late January last year, though it remains 27% below its level at the peak of the bubble in June 2015. Tight regulatory control over IPO approvals is still an obstacle, with some 629 companies queuing for approval as of January 19.