Four mainland Chinese IPOs drew huge demand after a four-month hiatus on offerings, with auto parts maker Shanghai Lianming Machinery Co Ltd attracting interest around 515 times the amount on offer in the online portion of its sale.

This year saw the resumption of mainland Chinese listings after a 14-month drought imposed by regulators who were concerned about overpricing. But after a two-month flurry of activity, no offerings were approved until last week, when seven firms got the go-ahead.

The four companies raised a total of 1.8 billion yuan ($290 million), according to statements from the firms published on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

The deals drew in a combined 380 billion yuan in bids, the China Securities Journal reported.

Shanghai Lianming Machinery Co Ltd, which will list on the Shanghai stock exchange, sold 20 million shares at 9.93 yuan a piece. Its IPO price was set at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43 times, compared with an average of 20.81 times for its listed peers on the Shanghai stock exchange.

The sale was underwritten by China Securities Co Ltd.

The other three were Wuxi Xuelang Environmental Technology Co Ltd, Shandong Longda Meat Foodstuff Co Ltd and Feitian Technologies Co Ltd which will list on smaller Shenzhen stock exchanges and which had oversubscription rates of between 120 and 218 times.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission is planning about 100 IPOs for the rest of this year, bringing the full-year tally up to 150, about half the number forecast by consultants including PwC.