Strong demand for China Railway Construction

The retail portion China Railway Construction Corp’s (CRC) US$2.2 billion Hong Kong initial public offering was ovesubscribed 250 times by the deadline Wednesday, the Financial Times reported, citing a source close to the deal. The company’s shares have been priced at the upper end of its indicative range of HK$9.93-10.7 (US$1.28-1.37), which equates to 26.62-28.67 times its predicted earnings for this year. CRC raised US$3.1 billion in its A-share IPO in late February, and looks strong for the second stage of its dual listing on March 10. Observers have looked to CRC as a bellwether for demand for IPOs on the mainland and in Hong Kong. A number of planned listings in early 2008 have been scaled back or postponed.