SHANGHAI: Although there was a slight increase in the number of Chinese companies raising capital abroad in March, the total amount raised fell to a record low, ChinaVenture said in its latest research report.

The report said that five Chinese companies launched their IPOs in capital markets abroad, up 150 percent from February, but down from 12 in March 2008.

The companies raised a combined $24 million which was "incomparably smaller" than that a year earlier when China Railway Construction Corporation alone raised about $5 billion yuan in Shanghai and Hong Kong, said ChinaVenture analyst Xiao Lumin, who compiled the report.