The Industrial Bank has announced that shares in its initial public offering (IPO) will be priced between 15 to 15.98 yuan.

The company has been approved by the Securities Regulatory Commission to issue 1.001 billion Renminbi-denominated A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which means the bank will raise at least 15 billion.

About 29.97 percent or 300 million shares will go to strategic investors. Another 300.3 million shares or 30 percent are available to off-line subscribers, with the on-line public offering involving 400.7 million shares. Subscription will start on Monday morning.

The Industrial Bank said funds raised from the IPO will be used to boost its capital adequacy ratio, strengthen its risk-prevention capability and profitability and support its business development.

The Industrial Bank, headquartered in Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian province, is a joint venture controlled by the provincial government. The Hang Seng Bank owns nearly 16 percent of its shares.

The Bank, which used to be called the Fujian Industrial Bank, was founded in 1998. At the end of June 2006, its capital adequacy ratio stood at 7.17 percent, lower than the eight percent set by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

BOC International (China) Limited will be the lead underwriter for the IPO -- the largest IPO by a company in Fujian.

Nine other commercial banks have already gone public on either home or overseas bourses, including Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank.

Unlike the "big four" state-owned commercial banks, the Industrial Bank -- the country's tenth-ranking commercial bank -- is still developing. In the last three years, the bank has branched into derivative products, asset trusteeship, and investment banking.

Its compound annual growth rate of capital, deposits and loans are all above average. The company reported net income of 14.34 billion yuan in 2003, 17.66 billion yuan in 2004, and 24.65 billion yuan in 2005. Its compound annual growth rate reached 31.11 percent.

By the end of 2006, the bank's total assets exceeded 532.6 billion yuan, and it realized a net profit of 1.746 billion yuan during the first 6 months of 2006, earning 0.44 yuan per share.

Capital assets cannot keep up with business expansion, and so a public listing is needed, said the company.

China saw a number of banks list on both domestic and foreign markets last year. The Bank of China, which issued A shares, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which issued A and H shares, quickly became major blue chips on the domestic securities market.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has also become the largest listed bank in Asia and the fifth largest listed bank in the world.