China will restart initial public offerings (IPO) after suspending them in July in the wake of a stock market rout which began in the middle of June, the securities regulator said Friday.

Deng Ke, spokesman with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), told a press conference that the IPOs of 28 companies will be allowed before the end of this year, according to an announcement posted on the CSRC's website Friday.

Due to sharp market fluctuations, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges said in early July that 28 scheduled IPOs would be suspended. This is the ninth time the CSRC has suspended IPO since 1994.

Among the 28 firms, 10 companies that had accepted subscriptions for their shares were required to refund the money to investors.

Those 10 companies will go back into the IPO process first, Deng said, adding that they may need about two weeks to go through some legal procedures.

"The other 18 companies will go public before the end of this year," he said.