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To: CRUZ who wrote (100902)	12/11/2003 10:00:58 PM
From: wlcnyc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 208838

"China Life set for final pricing in HK By Allen Wan, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 9:52 PM ET Dec. 11, 2003 TOKYO (CBS.MW) -The final pricing for China Life Insurance's blockbuster initial public offering should come later this Friday morning in Hong Kong, bankers say. Analysts and bankers expect China Life (LFC: news, chart, profile), the country's biggest life insurer, to price at the very top of its range of HK$2.98 to HK$3.65 a share in Hong Kong and $15.35 to $18.80 a share for its American Depositary Shares in New York. China Life is seeking a dual listing in the Hong Kong and New York stock markets. At the top price, China Life should raise about $3 billion, making it the biggest IPO in the world this year and the second biggest ever to come out of China after China Unicom (CHU: news, chart, profile) back in 2000. China Life will begin trading in New York on Wednesday, Dec. 17 and in Hong Kong the following day. In Hong Kong, China Life's offer of 323.53 million H-shares for subscription by retail investors has been 170 times oversubscribed, Xinhua Financial Network reported, citing sources close to the underwriters. The oversubscription will mean fewer shares for international institutional investors as the company supplies more to retail investors in Hong Kong, they said. The retail tranche will increase to 20 percent from 5 percent of the total 6.74 billion H-shares in its initial public offering, they added. H shares represent stock of mainland companies listed in the territory. The global offering is being managed by Citigroup (C: news, chart, profile), China International Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSR: news, chart, profile) and Deutsche Bank (DB: news, chart, profile). Besides its sheer size, China Life's offering is important because a successful debut could pave the way for other Chinese insurance companies to quickly follow suit in going public, such as Ping An Insurance and People's Insurance Co. of China. The pricing also comes on the heels of another phenomenally successful Chinese IPO -- Shanghai-based travel Web site Ctrip (CTRP: news, chart, profile). U.S.-listed shares of Ctrip.com, which priced at $18, opened at $24.01 on the Nasdaq Tuesday and climbed to a high of $37.35, becoming the first IPO since Transmeta (TMTA: news, chart, profile) to double its offer price in its first day of trade. Allen Wan is the Asia bureau chief for CBS MarketWatch, based in Tokyo." cbs.marketwatch.com