A well-known newspaper of China has recently reported that 12 billion shares would be floated by China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC), the country's largest civil engineering company, in an initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai next month, in order to raise as much as RMB 42.6 billion.

The newspaper also specified that the IPO would be the nation's largest this year.

According to one person who is in-the-know of the proceedings, the regulator expects to allow CSCEC go public in August.

A source close to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said: "CSCEC has finished transferring 1.2 billion shares to China's National Social Security Fund (NSSF); the country's national pension fund, and is thus one step nearer to its share offering." SASAC presently supervises 138 large non- bank state-owned enterprises.

It was confirmed by the Chinese government on 19th June that shares worth 10% of the IPOs to the NSSF should be transferred by all state-owned firms that went public after the 2005 reforms relating to state share holdings, as well as any firms that list in the future.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the nation's securities regulator, had given the permission to float 12 billion shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, to the Beijing-based company, last June. However, due to fall in the stock market, the plans could not be proceeded with.