Photo/Shetuwang

Jan. 6 (NBD) -- Shares of state-owned railway operator Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway Co Ltd (601816.SH) in the initial public offering (IPO) became available for subscriptions at the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday.

National Business Daily observed that the company only took 23 days to get through the entire listing application process, the fastest record in the past ten years.

Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway aims to raise about 30.68 billion yuan (4.4 billion U.S. dollars), marking the largest listing in the high-speed railway sector and the ninth largest public float by size in the A-share market.

According to the prospectus the company released last Friday, it plans to issue a total of 6.286 billion shares with the offering price set at 4.88 yuan per share. Upon completion of the IPO, the valuation of the company will reach around 240 billion yuan.

Known as the most profitable high-speed railway firm, Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway reaped 31.16 billion yuan in revenue and 10.25 billion yuan in net profits for 2018, posting a net margin of 32.89 percent. The ratio rose to 38.08 percent for the first three quarters of 2019. 

It is noted that Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway has a P/E ratio of up to 23.39 for IPO.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn