China COSCO will begin pre-marketing Monday, with full marketing of its initial public offering to begin on June 13.

If all goes to plan, shares in China COSCO should begin trading on Hong Kong's main board in the final week of next month.

The company is unlikely to bring in strategic investors to close the deal, though sources said there has been ``strong interest'' from a group of corporate investors.

By contrast, China Shenhua Energy, which is marketing its up to US$3.6 billion IPO, has stockpiled a clutch of strategic investors, including several Hong Kong tycoons prior to its local stock sale.

China COSCO, an umbrella organization housing COSCO Container Lines (Coscon) and COSCO Pacific, a red-chip container-to-ports company listed in Hong Kong, is choosing a busy time to come to market.

A clutch of key mainland firms are expected to complete initial share sales next month, flooding a market with new paper despite investor unease centering on high oil prices, rising interest rates and a flurry of currency speculation.

Apart from Shenhua, Bank of Communications also hopes to raise between US$1.5 billion and US$2 billion from its Hong Kong IPO next month.

China Minsheng Banking Corp is also racing to list its shares in Hong Kong.

China COSCO plans to channel the stock sale proeeds into fleet expansion and capital expenditure, and cutting debt at COSCO Pacific, which is 54.87 percent owned by China COSCO. COSCO Group owns just over 600 container ships with a total deadweight of 36 million tonnes.

The group's Coscon division, operating on about 50 scheduled shipping routes around the world, owns and operates 120 vessels with a total capacity of 256,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.

The IPO should also boost China COSCO's alliance partners Yang Ming Marine Transport of Taiwan, K Line of Japan and South Korea's Hanjin Shipping, which stand to benefit from its aggressive expansion plans.

elliot.wilson@singtaonewscorp.com