China Merchants Securities' IPO raises US$1.61b

China Merchants Securities raised US$1.62 billion at a share price of RMB31, amounting to 10% of its enlarged capital, through its IPO on the Shanghai stock exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported. The popular listing was oversubscribed around 95 times. The brokerage plans to use proceeds to supplement operational capital, including an expansion in asset management, investment banking, private equity investment, brokerage and proprietary businesses. This was the first major IPO since September, when Metallurgical Corp raised US$5.1 billion in Shanghai and Hong Kong.