China's No 2 telecommunications equipment supplier ZTE Corporation is on track to become the first mainland A-share company to list in Hong Kong.

The Shenzhen-listed A share now hopes to receive the go-ahead from the Hong Kong stock exchange in the middle of next month, paving the way for a December launch of a 350 million US dollar offering.

The company plans to sell 160 million H shares or up to 20 percent of its share capital in Hong Kong.

ZTE plans to use the listing proceeds to finance its expansion in overseas markets and to develop new products and technologies.

ZTE first applied to launch in Hong Kong in 2002, but the plan was aborted in April last year due to opposition from shareholders over price issues.

It took ZTE nearly two years to convince its shareholders to accept that a Hong Kong listing would not diminish the value of their shares in the mainland market before they finally gave their approval in June.

US investment banking giant Goldman Sachs is the sole sponsor for ZTE's listing.

(CRI.com October 25, 2004)