From 2010 through the first quarter of 2012, 38 venture capital and private equity firms sold shares in 59 listed companies they had invested in, cashing out 10.9 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), according to the Zero2IPO Research Center.

The center said that the average investment period of these VC and PE firms was 4.93 years and their average internal rate of return was 71.9 percent.

The 59 listed companies were in 13 sectors including energy, mining and manufacturing.

Though the investment periods were longest in the energy and mining sectors, at about 6.5 years, these sectors accounted for the largest portion of cash-outs, at 2.4 billion yuan, during the nine quarters.

VC and PE firms such as Jiuding Capital, Principal Capital and New Margin Ventures achieved some IRRs of more than 100 percent.

New Margin's IRR in Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery (Group) Co Ltd was 236.3 percent and that of Jiuding in Gifore Agricultural Machinery Chain Co Ltd was 202.7 percent.