China Molybdenum Co, Ltd, the country's top miner of the metal, has applied for a share offering in Shanghai worth roughly $600 million to help it expand its processing facilities. China Molybdenum said it aimed to sell up to 542 million shares in Shanghai, in a draft IPO prospectus published on the securities regulator's website.
The ultimate size of the IPO will depend on how it manages to price it, but the company said it planned to use the proceeds to finance four projects including processing facilities for tungsten, high-performance alloys and other materials that will cost an estimated 3.65 billion yuan ($577 million). It will now await approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which should soon announce a date for a listing hearing.
China Molybdenum's profit rose 9.6 percent in 2011 to 1.12 billion yuan. Its Hong Kong shares closed at HK$3.61 on Friday. They are up 8.7 percent so far this year. China Molybdenum's planned Shanghai IPO comes as an improving stock market renews investors' interest in buying into IPOs. Over the past year, some companies have struggled to raise funds in the Hong Kong and mainland equity markets due to the market downturn. It would also become the latest in a number of Chinese firms to tap mainland Chinese investors for funds after initially going public in Hong Kong, including automaker BYD Co Ltd.