Daqin shares in demand

Demand for shares in Daqin Railway Co outstripped supply by nearly nine times as the company opened up subscriptions ahead of its US$1.9 billion IPO in Shanghai. Daqin, which operates China's biggest coal transport network, will price its shares at US$0.62 and is scheduled to begin trading on August 7, Bloomberg reported. It is set to be the second-largest local currency share sale after Bank of China's US$2.5 billion offering in June, and comes on the back of a 43% increase in the Shanghai Composite Index since the start of the year. Daqin intends to use the capital raised to expand capacity, hopefully putting an end to the transportation bottlenecks that are partly responsible for rising coal prices in China.