When Morgan Stanley chief executive officer John Mack flew to Beijing on June 29, he met with the heads of China's banking and securities regulatory commissions and with Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

The visit was Mack's third since he took over Morgan Stanley in June 2005.

Morgan Stanley's attentiveness to China has paid off. The New York-based investment bank was the No. 1 underwriter of Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) in the 12 months ended June 30, beating Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of China Ltd. and UBS AG.

Morgan Stanley advised on half of the 10 biggest stock offerings by domestic companies in that period, including the US$9.2 billion IPO of China Construction Bank. Morgan Stanley helped back stock offerings valued at US$4.72 billion and took in US$135 million in fees.

"Mack's visit will help create business opportunities, and the objective is very clear," said Liang Zhanchong, director of Hong Kong-based Global Fortune Investment Research Center, which advises mainland companies that want to list overseas.

"China is the biggest source of revenue for investment banks in Asia, and anyone who views this as a second-priority market is mistaken," Liang said.

As mainland companies grow and become more ambitious, an increasing number are selling stock overseas. "The pipeline for China deals is like a fire hose, and it keeps flowing," said Jack Chow, a partner at consulting firm KPMG LLP in Hong Kong. "Mainland companies are facing tighter liquidity because of government lending curbs, and you'll see them continue rushing to the Hong Kong capital market to raise funds."

Companies that have said they plan to go public include China National Coal Group Corp., the nation's second-biggest coal producer, and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., which makes vehicles with DaimlerChrysler AG and Hyundai Motor Co.

State-owned China Southern Industrial Auto Co. also plans to sell shares in Hong Kong next year, according to company officials and bankers at Bank of China and Goldman Sachs, which will underwrite the offering.

In the year ended June 30, 75 companies, including banks, property developers, technology firms and manufacturers, raised US$28.1 billion through share offerings on Hong Kong and U.S. stock exchanges. That was almost double the US$14.7 billion raised by 115 companies in the 12 months ended June 30, 2005. This year's deals generated about US$788 million in investment banking fees, compared with US$459 million a year earlier.

The biggest transactions by far were bank listings. China Construction Bank's US$9.2 billion offering last October, with Morgan Stanley as lead underwriter, set the standard. It was then surpassed by the US$11.2 billion listing of Bank of China in June.

"The past 12 months have been great for our business," said Michael Berchtold, Morgan Stanley's Hong Kong-based president and investment banking chief for the Asia-Pacific region. "The opportunity in China is bigger today than it has ever been."

In the year ended June 30, IPOs by mainland companies represented 55 percent of all Asian stock offerings, excluding Japan, and 14 percent of all global IPOs.

"2006 has been a very busy year for the equity capital market in China, and we expect the second half also to be quite busy," said Matthew Koder, co-head of global equity capital markets at UBS in Hong Kong.