An initial public offering (IPO) in China's Three Gorges project attracted a flood of applications, enough to oversubscribe by almost 70 times the number of shares available. The share sale, which is restricted to invited investors, opened on 5 November.
Yangtze Electric Power, the operator of the dam, wants to float 45% of its shares, thought to be worth $700 million, on the Shanghai stock exchange in a bid to raise US$1.19 billion in funds for the scheme's first four hydro generators which began commercial operation in October 2003.
Within a week of the announcement, ranked as the fourth largest in China's history, Yangtze has been overwhlemed with interest from potential Chinese investors.
Analysts are suggesting that the stock value of Yangtze will increase by 40-60% in the next few weeks.
During its planning stages, some analysts claimed that the project would not be financially viable, but China's economic growth has resulted in a 16% annual increase in energy demand. Yangtze Electric said that it is already making more money than expected from the early startup of its generators. It is forecasting a net profit of $170 million, up from $53 million in 2002. It is predicting a profit next year of $314 million.
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