China Shipbuilding Industry Co, the country's biggest ship equipment maker, yesterday said it plans to raise about 6.4 billion yuan (US$937 million) in a Shanghai listing to expand production capacity.

China Shipbuilding will issue up to 1.995 billion yuan-backed A shares, or 30 percent of its enlarged share capital, through an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the state-owned company said in a prospectus filed with the local bourse.

The firm will announce the price range of the offering on December 3. Forty-five percent of the shares on offer will be earmarked for institutions which can subscribe for them on December 4 while retail investors can subscribe for the remainder on December 7, the company said.

The Beijing-based company, a subsidiary of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, said it planned to use the proceeds to build or expand 22 projects and boost its capacity to make engines and other parts.

The government has called on Chinese vessel equipment makers to lift their production capability so that self-made equipment would account for more than 80 percent of a ship's parts by 2015. For now shipbuilders depend on overseas equipment makers in Japan and South Korea to supply engines and parts.

China Shipbuilding posted a 51.73-percent jump in net profit last year to 1.22 billion yuan from a year earlier.

Companies on the Chinese mainland which launched IPOs this year have posted an average first-day gain of nearly 80 percent, but China Merchants Securities had the weakest debut on November 17 when its shares climbed only 8 percent.

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