Shareholders of Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. (Baosteel), the world’s fifth-most valuable steel maker, approved a stock sale marking the largest of its kind in the country.

The sale may raise an estimate of 28.4 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion) based on 5 billion shares valued at 5.69 yuan each, 15 percent less than the stock’s closing price Friday. The new stock would be sold at a discount of 15 to 20 percent to the average price in the 30 trading days before they are registered.

Shares of the state-owned company were suspended Monday in Shanghai, when more than 85 percent of stockholders attended the meeting in Beijing to vote on the sale.

Among nearly 830 million votes, more than 727 million were for the sale, accounting for 87.65 percent of the total number. Barely 6.5 million votes were against the sale and some 95.8 million abstained.

Baosteel is offering less stock to outside investors, compared with the 50 percent maximum indicated when the company announced the share sale plan last month.

Xie Qihua, president of Baosteel, aims to make his company into one of the world’s top three manufacturers by 2010, leapfrogging Posco, JFE Holdings Inc. and Nippon Steel Corp.

Baosteel’s shares dropped 0.02 yuan, or 0.3 percent, to 6.69 yuan Friday.