Initial public offerings (IPO) in China's stock markets recorded a total capital of almost 150 billion yuan (US$20.0 billion) in September alone, according to today's China Securities News.

A total of 15 new shares were added to the list this month, raising approximately 150 billion yuan in A-share blue chips such as China Construction Bank (CCB) and China Shenhua Energy.

Before September, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China held the record, having raised 46.64 billion yuan (US$) from its IPO.

However, CCB, the nation's second largest State-owned commercial lender, raised a record-breaking 58 billion yuan (US$7.7 billion) for domestic IPOs Tuesday this week.

Directly following, China Shenhua, the largest Chinese coal producer, upped the record to 66.58 billion yuan (US$8.9 billion) from its Shanghai IPO.

The September IPO accounted for half of funds raised in IPOs since the beginning of this year, and also exceeded the annual IPOs before 2006.

Meanwhile, the upper limit of Shenhua's IPO price posted 36.99 yuan per share, breaking the previous record of UFIDA Software Co Ltd’s offering price at 36.68 yuan.

(Chinadaily.com.cn September 28, 2007)