China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB), a leading commercial bank in China, announced on Thursday that it would start public offer on Friday and will be listed on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) on Oct. 27.

CCB President Guo Shuqing said at a press conference that afterthe bank is listed on the HKEx, it will be the first Chinese mainland's major state-owned commercial bank listed overseas among the four major state-owned commercial banks.

Guo said the CCB intends to sell 26.48 billion H-shares through the global offer and 1.32 billion H-shares will be offered to the public in Hong Kong for subscription, accounting for 5 percent of its global offer.

He said the price range for each H-share for the initial pubic offer is between 1.90 and 2.40 HK dollars and the gross proceeds of the global offering will be as high as 73.1 billion HK dollars (9.37 billion US dollars) if the over-allotment option is exercised in full.

The CCB's public offer will be the world's largest amount of fund collecting and is expected to set a new record for the HKEx'sfund raising.

Guo stressed that the proceeds will be used to strengthen the company's capital base to support the ongoing of business.

The CCB has 14,250 branch outlets. By the end of June 30, 2005,the CCB had 4,224.1 billion yuan (522.13 billion HK dollars) in total assets.

China International Capital Corporation, Morgan Stanley and CCB International Capital Corporation and Credit Suisse First Boston are the joint book runners for the global offering.

Source: Xinhua