Citic Group, a government-owned conglomerate with assets in Asia, the Americas and the Middle East, plans to raise up to $12 billion with an initial public offering next year in Hong Kong, a government newspaper reported Thursday.
A Citic spokesman said he could not confirm the report.
Citic plans to list its sprawling global business as a group on the Hong Kong exchange, the China Daily newspaper said, citing an unidentified financial industry source.
An employee of Citic's public relations department said it is undergoing "shareholding reform," a reference to the process of restructuring state-owned Chinese companies in preparation for selling minority stakes to the public.
"But details of numbers and a timetable we don't have," said the employee, who would give only his surname, Ji.
State-owned Chinese banks are raising billions of dollars with share issues on mainland and Hong Kong markets despite uncertain global conditions.
Citic Group was founded in 1979 as the investment arm of China's Cabinet at the start of the era of market-style economic reforms. Its assets include banks in China and Hong Kong, real estate, insurance, energy and telecoms and cable TV.
Citic Group ranked 415th on this year's Fortune Magazine list of the top 500 global companies with assets of $239 billion.
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