The China Construction Bank (CCB) has said it would soon hold an international auction of its 4.2 billion yuan (500 million dollars) worth of non-performing assets (NPAs) before its possible listing in 2004.

The NPAs, mainly domestic real estate projects, are assets paidby businesses to repay their bank loans, and differ from non-performing loans (NPLs).

"Several international investment banks have contacted us," said bank sources. "The action will be held soon and the business concluded by the end of the first half of this year."

It is the first time one of the "big four" state-owned banks, which also include the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China, will disposeof domestic NPAs through international bidding.

As early as July 2003, CCB and Morgan Stanley signed agreementsto jointly handle NPLs, which involved 4.3 billion yuan (520 million dollars) of principal and interest book value, and established a cooperative joint venture.

"However, the agreements have not obtained the government's approval so far," said the bank sources.

Despite that, the bank, said the sources, has speeded up the disposal of NPAs in a bid to turn itself into a joint-stock company, a prerequisite for a stock market-listed enterprise.

Last year, it recovered a record 49.4 billion yuan (six billiondollars) in cash from disposed NPAs valued at 120.1 billion yuan (14.5 billion dollars), with the NPL ratio dropping to 9.25 percent.

Maintaining the best asset quality among the "big four" at the end of 2003, the bank is scheduled to become the first state-ownedcommercial bank to go public this year.