The Industrial Bank Co Ltd looks set to launch its long-planned initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai soon, becoming the eighth commercial bank listed on the domestic stock market.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission plans to hold a hearing on the IPO application by the Industrial Bank on Monday.

The Fujian-based bank, nearly 16 percent owned by Hang Seng Bank, plans to issue as many as 1.33 billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange , according to its share sale document to the regulator.

The newly issued shares will be equivalent to 20 to 25 percent of the bank's expanded share capital. The bank did not reveal how much capital it would raise through the IPO.

The Beijing News reported that the IPO price is likely to be between 10 to 12 yuan, which means the bank may raise 13 billion to 16 billion yuan in the IPO.

"Funds raised will all be used to boost the capital adequacy ratio, strengthen the bank's risk-prevention capability and profitability, and support business development," the bank said.

It added that funds may be used in expanding and building information systems, purchasing and building fixed asset s, and other capital operations.

The bank had an 8.18 percent capital adequacy ratio at the end of 2005.

It said in the share sale document that as it is still in a rapid development period, profit growth can not keep up with business scale expansion, thus, a public listing will be a major channel for raising capital.

The joint stock commercial bank has been preparing for the IPO for more than two years. It won shareholders' approval to sell shares publicly in November 2004 and it passed its application to the securities regulator at the end of 2005.

However, the IPO plan was postponed as the government suspended new share sales between May 2005 and May 2006. Its listing plan was further delayed due to a flood of IPOs after the government lifted the one-year-long ban.

"The bank has solid performance and growth potential," She Minhua, an analyst from CITIC China Securities said. "Public listing will help boost its capital as well as improve corporate governance."

By the end of June 2006 the bank had total assets of 532.2 billion yuan. It realized a net profit of 1.746 billion yuan during the first six months of 2006.

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