国内英语新闻:Agricultural Bank of China sets new IPO record

BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of China's "big four" state-owned commercial banks, won the title for the world's largest initial public offering (IPO) after selling another 3.34 billion shares at its IPO price of 2.68 yuan per share.

The ABC said in a statement at the Shanghai Stock Exchange Sunday that it raised an additional 8.94 billion yuan (1.31 billion U.S. dollars) after fully exercising the over-allotment option of its Shanghai share offering. The bank has now raised 22.1 billion U.S. dollars.

The previous record was set by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which raised a record 21.9 billion U.S. dollars in its IPO in 2006.

ABC shares rose 0.37 percent to 2.69 yuan on the Shanghai bourse Friday.

The ABC is the last of the "big four" state-owned commercial lenders to go public. The other three banks -- the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of China, are listed on both Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses.

The over-allotment, or so-called greenshoe option, allows the sale of additional shares to the public if demand is high.