Jan. 31, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Chongqing Iron & Steel <1053> announced plans to sell A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange next month to fund expansion of its production capacity.

The medium-sized mainland steelmaker plans to issue 350 million A-shares, amounting to 20.19% of its enlarged share capital. Based on the company's H-share closing price of HK$2.77 yesterday, the deal could raise HK$969.5 million.

Chongqing Iron plans to spend RMB 1.4 billion in the next two years to expand cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel production capacity, raising its output to 3.5 million tons next year and 7.5 million tons in 2010, from 2.37 million tons in 2005.