Shanghai-based Shanda Networking Co Ltd, China's biggest online game company by revenue and number of subscribers, is expected to sell shares for the first time on Nasdaq to raise US$200 million to fund overseas purchases.

The initial public offering is likely to be at the beginning of next month. The company has applied for a listing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

The listing document said the company would launch a road show for investors in mid-April. US-based Goldman Sachs is the leading underwriter of the deal.

However, Zhou Chen, Shanda's public relations official, declined to comment Tuesday.

If all goes as planned, Shanda will become the fourth domestic company to trade on the technology-heavy Nasdaq in 2004.

Tang Jun, Shanda's president, said in a previous interview that the firm would purchase some South Korean game developers after it received enough funds from its IPO.

"The purchase obviously will strengthen the company in the fast-growing domestic online game market," said Zou Lei, an analyst at IResearch Inc, a local Internet consulting firm.

But industry insiders questioned whether it is a suitable time for Shanda to launch an IPO.

Shanghai-based Linktone Inc, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and Beijing-based Tom Online Inc, had their IPOs on Nasdaq last month. But their share prices dropped recently as overseas investors were not interested in Chinese high technology companies.

Revenue in China's online game market size reached 2.55 billion yuan (US$307.22 million) last year, more than double from a year ago. The figure size is likely to hit 4.2 billion yuan this year, according to IResearch.

(eastday.com April 7, 2004)