By Li Hongmei

China's securities regulator approved the initial public offerings of five companies seeking to raise about $353 million, paving the way for share sales to resume after a freeze of more than one year.

Neway Valve (Suzhou) Co. received approval for a first-time sale in Shanghai that could seek about 839 million yuan ($138 million) and will start marketing its shares early next month, the maker of industrial valves said in statements to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. Truking Technology Ltd., Guangdong Qtone Education Co., Guangdong Xinbao Electrical Appliances Holdings Co. and Zhejiang Wolwo Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. secured approval to list on the smaller Shenzhen exchange, separate filings by the companies showed.

China, the world's largest IPO market in 2010 with a record $71 billion raised, hasn't had an initial public offering since October 2012 as the securities regulator cracked down on fraud and misconduct among advisers and issuers. Fifty companies are expected to be ready by the end of January, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said Nov. 30 after pledging to move toward a U.S.-style IPO registration system.

"People expected more approvals in the first batch," Du Changchun, a Shanghai-based analyst at Northeast Securities Co., said by phone today. The regulator "will probably need to speed up the process, if the target of 50 is to be reached by end of January."

It will take about a year to clear the backlog of more than 760 companies waiting to go public, the CSRC said when announcing the changes to the IPO system. Another several companies will likely receive approvals in the next few days, the China Securities Journal reported today.

Changes to the IPO process announced last month are part of a package of reforms that signaled the biggest ever expansion of economic freedom. Since May, the CSRC has punished at least three brokerages for inadequate due diligence on IPOs and barred at least 21 bankers, auditors, lawyers and executives from the securities industry.