China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC), one of the nation's largest road project contractors, is planning to issue 2.8 billion shares in Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Shanghai bourse.

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) would consider the company's application on January 23. The company is the largest contractor of the construction of the Beijing-Shanghai express railway.

According to the pre-released prospectus, the capital raised from the IPO would be used to procure construction facilities, expand the manufacturing capacity of mechanic equipments, invest in properties and railways.

Citic Securities would lead the underwriting. The company is also actively preparing to get listed in Hong Kong market.

The CRCC, which established its name from building the Qinghai-Tibetan Railway, Shanghai Meglev train, Beijing-Kowloon Railway and the western railway across Hong Kong, took the largest share of 40.3 percent or 33.74 billion yuan (US$4.64 billion) through its two subsidiaries in the bidding on the civil engineering of China's express railway linking Beijing and Shanghai.

As the other major construction giant, China Railway Group Limited, has seen share price jump by 50 percent since its IPO in November last year, analysts expected the CRCC issue would also score considerable price rises with its net profits expected to reach 3.1 billion yuan in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2008)