A child stands at the front gate of a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). The ICBC, China's top lender, will price its upcoming Initial Public Offering at 2.7-2.8 Hong Kong dollars (35-36 US cents). (File Photo) Sept. 24 - The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the nation's largest lender, confirmed it aimed to launch what could be the world's largest initial public offering at the end of October.
In a preliminary note, ICBC said it would sell 35.39 billion shares, or 16 percent of its capital, on the Hong Kong stock exchange and 13 billion, or 5.8 percent, in Shanghai.
According to analysts in the Chinese media, ICBC hopes to raise between $19 billion and $21 billion, topping the previous 1998 record 18.4-billion-dollar sale of Japan's top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo.
The note was posted on the websites of the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets.
ICBC is one of China's big four banks, the others being CCB, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China.
Its website boasts it has more than 21,000 branches across the country and employs 360,000 people.
In the preliminary note, it said it expected annual net profit to rise to more than 47.2 billion yuan ($6 billion) this year compared to 33.7 billion yuan in 2005.
The bank posted net profit of about 25.4 billion yuan in the first half of 2006, up from the 25.1 billion yuan a year ago.
The simultaneous IPO on the two exchanges is earmarked for October 27, the official Shanghai Securities News reported earlier this month.
In January, a US-German consortium led by Goldman Sachs, American Express and Allianz announced that it had signed a deal with ICBC to acquire nearly 10 percent of its capital for $3.78 billion.
ICBC's listing follows a trend among China's top banks.
Bank of China, the nation's second biggest, raised $13.7 billion in phased launches in Hong Kong and Shanghai in June and July, while CCB raised $8 billion when it entered the Hong Kong exchange last year.