The China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Co Ltd (CSSD), is to seek an overseas listing in the first half of next year.

However, whether the initial public offering (IPO) will take place in Hong Kong or Singapore is yet to be decided, as is the amount of funds the company plans to raise, said Ma Minglong, chairman of Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee.

The industrial park is viewed as one of the most successful in China thanks to its injection of US$8.95 billion in actual foreign investment over the past 10 years.

According to Ma, the company is now in talks with a number of partners for stake transfers to increase the number of investors.

"We are going to complete the shareholding reform before the end of the year, and more powerful corporate investors will be introduced into the company," said Ma.

He said potential partners in talks include not only mainland companies, but also established firms in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Compared with Singapore, Hong Kong is believed to be more competitive for most mainland firms' overseas listings.

However, the Singapore Government recently stepped-up attempts to attract more Chinese enterprises to list on its capital markets.

"The timing is important, and we will make decisions based more on the timing (rather than place)," said Ma, responding to questions about the possible destination of the listing.

China and Singapore governments signed deals in May 1994 to jointly develop the Suzhou Industrial Park as a bilateral co-operation project.

As a key part of the deal, CSSD was created to run the development of the park. Chinese sides were allocated a 35 per cent stake while Singapore took a majority 65 per cent.

But the stake structure was reversed in 2001 when the Chinese partners took the dominant 65 per cent.

One of the most vibrant development zones in China, in terms of the injection of foreign funds, the industrial park has outperformed all parallel parks over the past three years.