By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong

Companies that have listed on the mainland Chinese market have left almost $25bn “on the table” over the past year, underlining the yawning gap between the pricing of public offerings and frenzied investor demand.

The findings come as bankers expect the deal flow to increase as Beijing pushes more companies to float in order to boost liquidity in the A-share market.

Over the past 12 months, more than a third of the 113 offerings on the A-share market more than doubled in value on their debut, according to data from Thomson Financial. The average first-day rise was 97 per cent, translating into a combined gain of $24.4bn.

By comparison, share prices of mainland enterprises that floated in Hong Kong last year gained an average of 22.5 per cent on their trading debut, according to the city’s Securities and Futures Commission.

UBS, hitherto the only western bank alongside Goldman Sachs to have received permission to manage A-share listings, is understood to be working on as many as 10 listings. It completed its first mainland flotation this month, Western Mining, a metals producer whose share price surged 144 per cent on the first day.

Several foreign banks are pushing for permission to acquire control of a local brokerage and gain a slice of the booming market.

Morgan Stanley owns 34 per cent of China International Capital Corp, which has been leading Chinese IPO league tables, but the US bank is understood to want a separate licence to manage its own offerings.

China has kept a tight control on listings to ensure strong debuts, and only allowed activity to resume a year ago after a lengthy suspension.

The state controls many of the floated companies, but some bankers suggest private management has been equally conservative in their pricing strategy.

Copyright Fund China 2009.

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