Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd, which aims to raise 16.85 billion yuan (US$2.47 billion) in a Shanghai initial public offering, will take subscriptions next week.

The offering, approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission last week, could further weigh down the domestic market that has fallen 22 percent in August.

Talks on pricing for the IPO start today and a range will be decided by next Monday, MCC said yesterday as it started a road show. The company plans to sell up to 3.5 billion A shares.

Institutional investors will be able to start subscribing to the shares from next Tuesday, and retail investors the following day, it said.

The Shanghai Composite Index has surged more than 90 percent between the start of the year and early August amid an influx of speculative capital. But worries of a contraction in bank loans and liquidity have triggered a heavy sell-off since then.

The index shed 6.74 percent yesterday.

"MCC, along with other recent IPOs and sizable fund raising plans, is posing a challenge to the market," said Chen Huiqin, an analyst at Huatai Securities.

MCC's Shanghai share sale will be followed by a Hong Kong IPO, which could raise a further US$2.3 billion.

The state-owned firm will use the proceeds from the dual listing to fund international projects, repay bank loans and acquire overseas mining resources.

MCC shares would list in Shanghai on September 21 and in Hong Kong on September 24, a Hong Kong newspaper has said.

(Shanghai Daily September 1, 2009)