China's oldest Peking duck restaurant chain, Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd, was listed on Tuesday on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, company sources said.

Its shares opened at 36.81 yuan (about 4.96 U.S. dollars) on their first day of trade in the mainland A share market and soared to 44 yuan per share within an hour. Its initial public offering (IPO) price was 11.39 yuan per share.

Quanjude, the first Chinese food and beverage company to go public, aims to take the listing as a new starting point in its business development, said the company's chairman of the board Jiang Junxian after a bell-ringing ceremony at the Shenzhen bourse.

"We are aimed to building an international brand," he said.

Quanjude planned to issue up to 36 million shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to raise at least 380 million yuan. The online offering started on Nov. 5.

The company said it would use the proceeds for outlet renovation and expansion and upgrading its food production bases and logistic centers.

If the proceeds exceeded the proposed investment, the remainder would supplement its liquidity; and if the proceeds were less, Quanjude would resort to bank loans or its own capital, the company said in a draft prospectus filed to the China Securities Regulatory Commission in September.

Quanjude has nine restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Changchun and 61 franchised outlets, including 56 on the mainland and five overseas. Its brand dates back to 1864 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the last imperial rulers of China.

It posted net profits of 25.62 million yuan in the first quarter of 2007 and 56.66 million yuan in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)