Sinohydro Group, the country's largest dam builder, aims to raise at least 12.9 billion yuan (HK$14.64 billion) from a Shanghai listing this year, according to an audit report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
It had sought to raise 45 billion yuan in an earlier listing plan, which was shelved when the global financial crisis struck in late 2008.
For its upcoming initial public offering, Sinohydro, one of the main contractors of the Three Gorges Dam project, plans to sell 25 to 35 per cent of its shares to the public, according to the audit report.
The group will spend 11.29 billion yuan of the listing proceeds on seven projects with a total investment of 15.03 billion yuan, the report said. Another 1.6 billion yuan will be used as general working capital.
The seven projects include a Cambodian hydropower plant with a total investment of US$280.5 million. Sinohydro will invest 3.47 billion yuan in three property projects in Beijing, Chengdu and Guiyang, of which 1.67 billion yuan will come from the listing proceeds.
Most of the proceeds, 8.84 billion yuan, will be used to buy and lease equipment. Another 1.72 billion yuan will finance two wind farms in Yunnan province and Inner Mongolia.
As part of China's green securities policy, the ministry has to approve the mainland listing of companies in 12 environmental sectors. Although Sinohydro's core business of hydropower is not among these 12 sectors, the company has two thermal-power subsidiaries, and thermal power is one of the sectors that require the ministry's approval.