China Builder Files for $7.3 Billion I.P.O

In what would be the world’s largest initial public offering in more than a year, China State Construction Engineering Corporation plans to raise as much as 50.2 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), Bloomberg News reports.

The company, which is China’s largest housing contractor, plans to sell up to 12 billion shares at 3.96 yuan to 4.18 yuan each, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday. The sale of a 40 percent stake puts the company’s value at as much as 125.5 billion yuan, the news service said.

China State Construction, led by its chairman, Sun Wenjie, expects to use the I.P.O. proceeds to expand in residential construction, as a surge in bank lending drives an increase in the housing market.