SHARES in China Railway Construction are expected to rise by 43 percent on their Shanghai debut today, market players predicted.

While such a first-day performance would be healthy by international standards, it would lag behind a 69 percent jump on debut from its bigger rival, China Railway Group, in early December. It is not rare for Chinese IPOs to double or even triple on their listing debuts.

China Railway Construction will make a trading debut Thursday in Hong Kong.

“Market conditions are much worse and China Railway Construction has set a more expensive IPO price compared with China Railway Group,” said industry analyst Han Qicheng at Guotai Junan Securities.

Still, Han and other analysts said heavy demand for China Railway Construction’s IPO shares showed investors are interested in the company’s booming overseas business and the duopoly it holds with China Railway Group on the country’s fast expanding railway construction sector.

The firm raised 22.246 yuan (US$3.1 billion) in mainland’s 11th-biggest initial public offering ever and added US$2.3 billion from a Hong Kong offering that ranks as the most popular IPO ever.

(SD-Agencies)