Shanghai to overtake Hong Kong as king of initial public offerings

SHANGHAI: The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is expected to overtake Hong Kong as the world's largest center for initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2010 and is forecast to raise 380 billion yuan, according to a report released yesterday by accounting firm Ernst & Young.

"With the economy and the capital markets becoming more stable, coupled with a strong IPO pipeline and market liquidity we forecast that for the SSE alone, IPO value will increase more than two fold in 2010 than this year," said Philip Leung, regional managing partner of China Central, Ernst & Young.

The Shanghai exchange, the bigger one of the mainland's two stock markets, raised $14 billion in the first 11 months of this year, becoming the world's third largest center for IPOs after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.