China Mengniu Dairy shareholders yesterday offered 315 million Mengniu shares at $4.95 to $5.05 each, representing a discount of 1.94 per cent to 3.88 per cent to yesterday's closing price of $5.15, market sources said. Proceeds from the placement could reach $1.59 billion, exceeding the $1.58 billion netted by the country's largest milk producer in its flotation in June last year. The placement was arranged by Morgan Stanley. This was the second time Mengniu's shareholders had sought to dispose of shares since the company listed. In December last year, MS Dairy Holdings, CDH China Fund and Actis China Investment converted some of their Mengniu convertible instruments and sold 168.2 million shares at $6.06 each.