Hong Kong and China IPO markets closing first half of 2014 differently

So far, Hong Kong's looking pretty good.

Based on an analysis on the initial public offering (IPO) activities of Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, it has been observed that the two markets are closing the first half of 2014 differently, with Hong Kong scoring the strongest performance in terms of funds raised since 2011 and with China missing the market expectation.

According to a release by Deloitte, in the first six months of 2014, Hong Kong has raised HK$81.3 billion from 48 IPOs, 105% and 118% up compared against HK$39.7 billion raised out of 22 IPOs over the same period of last year. While the IPO funds raised were the highest since 2011, the number of IPOs hit the highest over the same period in the last decade.

The release also noted that over half of the proceeds (53%) came from three mega IPOs, HK Electric Investments and HK Electric Investments Limited—SS, China CNR Corporation Limited and Harbin Bank, with the remaining funds mainly driven by small and medium-sized IPOs.

Deloitte said that as a result, Hong Kong reached the fourth position in the global IPO race after NASDAQ.

Here's more from Deloitte:

Over to the Chinese Mainland, IPO activities restarted in January at last after 14 months of market anticipation. But the market came dormant from mid-February and reactivated in late June on the back of the reform in its IPO regime.

As a result, as of 30 June 2014, 52 companies completed their IPOs raising RMB35.3 billion, both were 50% and 51% down respectively from 104 IPOs raising RMB72.6 billion over the same period in 2012.

The slower IPO activities put the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange out of the top five positions in terms of IPO funds raised against other key stock exchanges globally.