China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) held up at least ten IPOs last year because the companies involved didn't meet new anti-pollution guidelines, according to The Wall Street Journal and other news sources.

According to the WSJ:

Ten domestic IPOs - including one by China Coal Energy Co., China's second-largest coal producer by output - were held back in the second half of 2007, after the government began vetting such deals for environmental factors...

Eight of the ten offerings were later approved as the companies fell into compliance.

SEPA's new role in the IPO process was described in the Hong Kong Standard today:

According to the new initiative, "high polluting companies" including those engaged in coal power generating, steel, cement and electrolytic aluminum business, will need to attach special approval documents from the environmental watchdog in order to get their fundraising plan approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The HK Standard said that 37 companies went through the new green vetting process last year. Of those, 27 were approved, eight delayed, and two companies have not yet been granted approval to raise capital because of their environmental problems.