China regulators likely to allow more share offerings in '15

Big year seen

Analysts at Deloitte estimate between 180-200 Chinese mainland companies will raise between 100 billion yuan and 120 billion yuan ($16.1 billion to $19.3 billion) via IPOs this year. Manufacturing, consumer and retail and emerging industries will dominate the offerings, they said.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers forecasts China's IPO market in 2015 could be even bigger, raising around 130 billion yuan.

Last year, 125 companies raised a total of $11.2 billion, with technology firms accounting for about 47 percent of all proceeds, according to Thomson Reuters data.

New procedures coming

Unlike many developed markets, China applies an approval-based system in which the regulator decides which firms would get to list and when.

But the CSRC has said it will be moving to a registration-based system similar to those used in the United States and other developed markets as part of broader efforts in opening up its financial system.

The new system, which analysts expect could be rolled out this year, aims to allow market forces to determine the reception and pricing of IPOs and speed up the process for the long line of hopefuls.

Zhang Gang, an analyst at Central China Securities in Shanghai, said he believes the system will be rolled out in the second half of this year. Its introduction could briefly cause volatility in the market, he said.

For years prior to late 2014, mainland stock markets stayed in the doldrums. But spurred by a surprise interest rate cut in November and the launch of a stock link between Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, they have been on a tear.