China Securities Regulatory Commission, the industry watchdog, on Monday gave the green light to China Shenhua's A-share initial public offering (IPO) application.

Shenhua, a state-run company set up in 1995 and now the world's second largest listed coal company, plan to issue a maximum of 1.8 billion yuan-denominated shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The country's largest coal producer did not reveal the estimated share price, but if its A-share price is no lower than its H-share price, which closed at 40.0 HK dollars on Monday, the IPO could raise around 70 billion yuan.

This would make it the largest A-share IPO on the nation's domestic equity market, surpassing the projected sum of 58 billion yuan to be raised through China Construction Bank's IPO this month.

The funds will be used to upgrading the company's coal, power and transportation systems, said the Hong Kong-listed company.

China International Capital Corporation and China Galaxy Securities Company will serve as the main underwriters of this issue.

By the end of this June, the company had a proven coal reserve of 5.99 billion metric tons mainly in northern China's Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, second only to Peabody Energy Corporation, the world's biggest publicly traded coal company.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2007)