THE number of initial public offerings by Chinese companies fell to the lowest in two years in August as financial institutions have grown lukewarm toward IPOs while declines in global markets over the debt crisis in Europe and the United States have also eroded interest, a report by China Venture showed yesterday.

The number of listings by Chinese firms fell to 26 in August, a drop of nine IPOs from the same period of last year, the report disclosed.

Nasdaq-listed online video company Tudou was the only Chinese firm that listed overseas last month, raising US$170 million while the other 25 firms chose to debut on mainland markets, according to the report.

The money raised from overseas markets by Chinese firms in August totaled only 1.1 billion yuan (US$170 million), a tumble of nearly 67 percent from a year ago and a 90.1 percent plunge from a month earlier, the report said.

"This shows foreign financial institutions are not really interested in Chinese plays any more," the report said, adding that this is a result of accounting scandals that affected some overseas-listed Chinese firms this year.

"The IPO door to Chinese firms in overseas markets is basically now closed," the report added.

The amount of money raised from all the IPOs in August shrank 45.6 percent annually to 27.24 billion yuan, the lowest in two years, the report disclosed.

Source:shanghaidaily