About 60 percent of China's underwriters did not help companies gain a listing on the Chinese markets in the first half of this year.

Twenty-six underwriters helped 58 companies complete initial public offerings in the first half of this year, raising a total of 89.84 billion yuan (US$13.21 billion), according to figures compiled by China Securities Journal.

Sixty-six financial service providers have the right to serve as underwriters on the mainland, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which means that 40 did not help with any listings for the period.

Guosen Securities Co handled nine IPOs in the period, more than any other underwriter, followed by GF Securities which handled eight IPOs and Ping An Securities' seven IPOs.

In terms of raised money, Citic Securities was first with 24 billion yuan, China International Capital Co followed with 17.3 billion yuan and Galaxy Securities was third raising 13.75 billion yuan.

The institutions earned about 2.5 billion yuan in underwriting fees in the period, much lower than for the same period last year.

The number of IPOs in the first six months was similar to half of last year's but the IPOs raised only 89.84 billion yuan in the period, compared with 447 billion yuan for all of last year, partly because of tightening of IPO approval regulations.

The government has been slowing the issue of new share sales as this could worsen an already sluggish market by driving capital out.

The Chinese government has been stepping up efforts to help boost confidence after the main stock market tumbled nearly 50 percent in the first half of this year.

(Shanghai Daily July 29, 2008)