London's main market has hosted €15.2bn (£10.2bn) in IPOs so far this year, many by companies based outside Europe, and is on course to beat 2005's record of €19bn (£12.8bn), says PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Last year was the first in which London raised more money for its debutants than the mighty New York Stock Exchange, which saw €17bn of floats. New placings on the NYSE have raised €13.3bn in the first three-quarters of this year.

The statistics will make grim reading for John Thain, head of the NYSE, who last week complained that the US was losing its competitive edge.

Wall Street has become concerned that foreign businesses are increasingly unwilling to accept the expensive disclosure rules imposed on US-listed companies by the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which was introduced in the wake of Enron and other major accounting frauds.

In particular, Sarbanes-Oxley is thought to have deterred Russian companies from seeking listings in America. Instead, the former Soviet Union has become a major hunting-ground for the LSE, which recently hosted this year's biggest float, a €5.2bn placing by Rosneft, the Russian oil company.

'Offering value in London has been boosted by Rosneft and Standard Life [which raised €3.2bn],' said Tom Troubridge, head of PWC's capital markets group. 'The fourth quarter has also started well, with Aer Lingus and Experian making their London debuts.'

PWC's figures also shed an interesting light on the wave of consolidation sweeping equities and derivatives exchanges around the world.

The LSE, a regular target for would-be bidders, is expected to see a takeover approach from Nasdaq, the second largest US equity trading platform, which has amassed a 25 per cent stake in the London market. However, last week LSE chief executive Clara Furse announced a doubling of interim profits to £77m and insisted: 'We are not for sale. These results show we have no need to sell.'

Meanwhile, the NYSE is pursuing a $20bn merger with Paris-based Euro-next, which has seen a dramatic decline in its fortunes as a host for new equity floats this year, according to PWC.

Euronext has hosted just €4.6bn worth of new IPOs in the first nine months of this year, against a performance of €16bn for the whole of 2005, although last year it was busiest in the fourth quarter.

Nasdaq, traditionally a venue for technology companies, has raised €8.9bn for its new entrants so far this year.

AIM, the market for smaller companies which is owned by the LSE, has hosted placings for 182 firms this year, raising €4bn.

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Borse has also seen about €4bn worth of new floats in the first three-quarters of 2006.