Huatai offering to help fund investment

Huatai Securities Co hopes to raise as much as 17.26 billion yuan in an initial share sale in Shanghai, where two companies that went public in the past month fell on their first trading day.

The Nanjing-based brokerage will offer as many as 784.6 million shares at between 20 yuan and 22 yuan apiece, according to a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange yesterday. The initial public offering (IPO) would be the biggest in China since Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd raised 18.97 billion yuan last September.

Huatai, the third brokerage to go public in China since August, is raising money as investor appetite for new equity dries up. China XD Electric Co and China Erzhong Group Deyang Heavy Industries Co this year became the first companies in China since 2004 to fall on their debuts, and China First Heavy Industries Co failed to raise the maximum amount sought in a Shanghai IPO.