Daqin Railway, China's biggest coal transport line, priced its planned 15 billion yuan initial public offering at 4.95 yuan a share, near the top of the indicative range, after demand from institutional investors surpassed that of the previous record-holder, Bank of China.
That values the company at 18 times historical earnings.
The company, whose offering would be the Shanghai stock exchange's second-largest yuan-denominated sale after BOC, attracted bids for 128.3 billion shares from institutions, 13 times the number set aside for them, the company said.
Thirty per cent of that amount was allocated to 12 strategic investors, including Ping An Life Insurance, China Life Insurance and the country's National Social Security Fund.
The company today will begin marketing shares to individuals, for whom the remaining 35 per cent of the stock has been reserved. China International Capital Corp is the manager of the sale.
Daqin Railway expects the volume of coal it carries, which accounts for 95 per cent of revenues, will increase to 250 million tonnes by the end of this year, from less than 200 million now.