State Construction's IPO the largest worldwide since 2008

The biggest in China since 2007, the initial public offering of China State Construction Engineering Corporation aims to raise as much as $7.3 billion. Pegged at $0.58 to $0.62 each, as many as 12 billion shares are intended to be sold by the housing contractor. It is the world's biggest IPO since Visa Inc. raised more than $19 billion in March 2008.

As the housing market picks up with the growth in bank lending and through the government's stimulus package, State Construction plans to invest in 24 commercial housing projects using $1.17 billion of the IPO proceeds. In 2008 the company’s profit fell 44 percent to $720 million due to rising raw material prices, higher tax payments, and the slowing property market.

"The market won't have any problem holding up the State Construction sale," Yu Yang, a Guangzhou-based strategist at Guotai Junan Securities Co., said in a report by Bloomberg.

State Construction has filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and is the fifth company to get final approval to sell shares since the IPO moratorium ended in June 2009.