China State Construction Eng Corp Ltd (China Construction), China's largest civil engineering company, will reignite its plan for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2009, said a company official.

The IPO of the company could come in the second half of the year, analysts said.

The company received the approval from China Securities Regulatory Commission to go public in June 2008 by issuing 12 billion A-shares on the Shanghai stock exchange to raise more than 40 billion yuan (US$5.85 billion).

But the company has put the plan on hold because of the sluggish market condition.

"It is still our goal to go public," Yi Jun, president of the company, told reporters at a recent forum. "We will actively prepare for the IPO in 2009."

The company's profit in the first three quarters of 2008 amounted to 2.48 billion yuan on sales of 141.2 billion yuan, Yi said.

It posted a profit of 4.92 billion yuan for 2007 on sales of 168.3 billion yuan.

(China Daily January 12, 2009)