The Fujian Province-based bank will sell up to 399.9 million shares to institutional investors yesterday and today and sell 533 million shares to retail investors today, the lender said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

Four hundred million shares will also be sold to strategic investors.

"The initial public offering is to raise the bank's capital and improve its capacity," the bank said. "The money will be partly used to expand outlets, buy fixed assets and improve its electronic system."

"(A good) network counts in the banking sector," said the lender, which has 338 outlets nationwide.

The 12th biggest lender in China will post the offer price of its shares on January 26 and will list as soon as possible after the share sale, it said.

Its offer prices are expected to range between 10 yuan and 15 yuan apiece, said Qiu Zhicheng, a Haitong Securities Co analyst.

BOC International (China) is the underwriter for the share sale.

Industrial Bank, 16 percent owned by Hong Kong's Hang Seng Bank Ltd, would become the country's 10th listed lender. The sale also marked the first IPO in 2007.

Banks, including joint stock lenders and city commercial banks, are seeking IPOs this year to boost capital amid a bullish stock market which posted its biggest single-day rise yesterday.

The lender has been planning the share sale for years. The booming stock market on the mainland offers a good timing. The market has rebounded from a five-year low and is likely to continue the bull run for two more years, according to market observers.

Its capital adequacy ratio was 8.41 percent at the end of September, slightly higher than regulator's 8 percent requirement.

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