The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc has welcomed 22 companies from China to the NASDAQ Stock Market year- to-date in 2009, said the company on Wednesday.

The 22 listed Chinese companies, include eight IPOs, 13 OTCBB upgrades, and one switch to NASDAQ from NYSE AMEX.

"China is the largest and most important overseas market for us, with 116 listed companies," said Bob Greifeld, chief executive officer of NASDAQ OMX.

"Companies going public in today's market are looking for greater visibility to global investors and seeking better intelligence on investor activity from their exchange. As a result, we are seeing more companies coming to NASDAQ and increased interest in the public company support services we provide," he added.

Shengda Games, which was listed on Sept 25, is one of the largest US IPOs this year and the largest capital raise for a Chinese company in 2009.

There are currently 116 Chinese listed companies on NASDAQ, including Baidu, NASDAQ's largest listed company in China and a member of the prestigious NASDAQ-100 Index. Companies span across all major sectors including technology, media and telecom, consumer, industrials, healthcare, energy, materials and financials.