A person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Qinhuangdao Port Co Ltd is going to price its planned initial public offering in Hong Kong at HKD 5.25 per share. At this price, the operator of the biggest coal port in the world is set to raise USD 562 million when it goes public.

The person who spoke on the condition of anonymity since he did not have the authority to talk about the matter in public, said underwriters had recommended that the shares to be priced at the bottom of the marketing range of HKD 5.25 per share to HKD 6.70 per share. Qinhuangdao Port will be offering 829.85 million shares, which would place the value of the sale at HKD 4.36 billion or USD 562 million when it goes public. Newly-issued shares will comprise 91% of the offer and the remaining shares issued will be existing ones from China's National Social Security Fund.

The sponsors and joint global coordinators for the deal are Citigroup Inc, China International Capital Corp and HSBC Holdings Plc. The other underwriters include China Merchants Securities Co Ltd, BoCom International, JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Ag

Citing a term sheet, a report by the Wall Street Journal on November 24 said Qinhuangdao Port Co intended to raise USD 717 million in its IPO.  That report also said that there were already seven investors who had committed to buy and hold stakes for a certain period once Qinhuangdao Port has already listed. The investors committed USD 240 million to the firm. These include Zhongrong International Trust Co, China National Coal Group, China Communications Construction Co, China Datang Corp., China Guodian Corp. and Taiping General Insurance Co, the WSJ report said.

The WSJ report said Qinhuangdao Port, which is controlled by the provincial government of Hebei, is set to list on December 12.