Recruiting in China

Oct. 15 - It seems certain for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to set a new initial public offering (IPO) record with US$130 billion of orders so far, the South China Morning Post reported Saturday.

ICBC, China's largest bank, has drawn more than $130 billio worth of orders from international investors for the Hong Kong portion of its IPO marketing, the English newspaper reported, quoting market sources.

The retail tranche of H shares on Hong Kong Stocks will go on sale on Monday and is expected to meet with an overwhelming response from the public.

ICBC will raise as much as $22 billion through a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the world's largest IPO to date, according to the newspaper.

The previous IPO record on Hong Kong Stocks was set by Bank of China, which attracted $175.6 billion worth of institutional orders for its HK$67.7 billion IPO in May.

The current $130 billion in orders were 10 times the $13.23 billion worth of H shares available to all institutional investors, including the $3.9 billion worth already set aside for 13 corporate investors and wealthy individuals.

With most big institutional investors yet to place orders, the subscription level should reach a record high before the books close, the newspaper cited a fund manager as saying.

Despite the strong demand, the deal's sponsors and bank management have no plans to raise the indicative price range for the sale, the newspaper cited an investment banker close to the IPO as saying.