Mainland brokerages are playing a bigger part in underwriting shares issued by Chinese companies for foreign investors.
Shanghai Securities News said this was because China houses - after about five years of experience - were able to take on foreign brokerages in underwriting B shares, reserved for foreigners but actively traded by mainland investors.
It pointed to the case of Shanghai Huili Building Material, which issued 80 million B-share underwritten by nine brokerages, four of which were China houses. China Guotai Securities alone accounted for half of the issue.
Mainland houses underwrote 37.5 per cent of the B-share offer by Tianjin Marine Storage and Transportation, and 60 per cent of the Gujing Gongjiu Industry offer.
Foreign analysts said a reason why mainland houses underwrote a big chunk of these three issues was that foreign brokerages were not chasing the business.
'It is true the mainland broking houses have improved markedly these few years, but one reason they did more of the business in these issues was because foreign brokers were less interested in them,' one foreign analyst said.
Mainland brokerages dominating the underwriting business include big names such as Huaxia Securities, China Guotai Securities, Shanghai Shenyin Securities, Nanfang Securities, and Haitong Securities.
