China Merchants Securities Co will launch an initial public offering in Shanghai to raise about 10 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion) to replenish operational capital.

The country's eighth-largest brokerage plans to sell 358.55 million shares, or 10 percent of its expanded capital after the IPO, according to the prospectus filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange late yesterday. It will use the proceeds to supplement operational capital, such as expanding asset management, investment bank, private equity investment, brokerage and proprietary sectors.

The Shenzhen-based broker will start consulting investors on the offer price today. It will receive subscriptions from institutional investors on November 9 and retail investors on November 10. China Merchants Securities got approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission last year, but the slumping stock market made the regulator suspend new share sales till June.

China Merchants Group owns a 51.65 percent stake in the company indirectly. Goldman Sachs and UBS Securities are joint underwriters of the IPO. It is expected to be the third brokerage to list on the Chinese mainland through an IPO.

Everbright Securities Co listed in August six years after CITIC Securities Co's IPO was approved in 2003. Other listed brokerages chose a back-door listing.

A batch of brokerages, including Guosen Securities, Huatai Securities, Shanxi Securities and Industrial Securities, are being reviewed by the securities regulator.