Privately-held mainland manufacturer and seller of rare-earth products Yixing Xinwei Holdings has pitched the price of its public offering at 6.59 times prospective earnings this year on a pro forma fully diluted basis.
This represents 93 cents for each of the 150 million new shares on offer, raising about $139.5 million.
Ninety per cent of the issue is earmarked for international placing.
The remainder will be offered for public subscription in Hong Kong, starting from today until Friday.
About $60 million of the listing proceeds will be used to increase rare-earth production facilities from 3,550 tonnes of rare-earth oxides a year to about 4,900 tonnes.
Rare earth is a fundamental ingredient in most high-technology applications. Its use ranges from reinforced glass, long-life light bulbs, computer-memory chips, fluorescent powders for colour-television sets to batteries for mobile phones.
About $20 million will be earmarked from listing proceeds for upgrading production facilities of fluorescent powders and about $35 million to upgrade and expand production facilities for refractory materials.