Brokerage China Galaxy Securities and the engineering unit of China's Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil refiner, both got approvals from the Hong Kong stock exchange for their initial public share offers on Thursday, adding $3.5 billion to the total that could be raised in the city in the second quarter.

Sinopec Engineering (Group) plans to start pre-marketing its share offer for up to $2 billion on Apr. 18 with a view to launching the deal on May 6, Thomson Reuters publication IFR said, citing sources with direct knowledge of the plans. The offering is scheduled to be priced on May 16, it added.

Meanwhile China Galaxy, the country's seventh-largest brokerage, is seeking up to $1.5 billion and is set to start pre-marketing on Apr. 22, IFR said.

China Galaxy added 13 banks last month to the group helping arrange the planned IPO, putting the total number involved at 16, near the record 17 hired by People's Insurance Company (Group) of China for its $3.5 billion IPO in December.

The two deals will go head to head for investors' attention, indicating a pick-up in activity after IPO volumes in Asia ex-Japan plunged 56 percent to $3.3 billion in the first quarter, making it the worst start to a year for new share listings since the first quarter of 2009.

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