CHINA Cosco Holdings Co (stock code: 600428), operator of Asia's largest container line, sold 15 billion yuan (US$1.97 billion) of stock in Shanghai to buy new ships.

Investors bought 1.78 billion shares at 8.48 yuan each, the top end of the price range, on Monday, the company said in a Shanghai stock exchange statement today. The sale was the fourth biggest in China this year, according to Bloomberg data.

The company plans to use the funds to help its container-shipping unit pay for 12 new ships and to buy a stake in a logistics company. Shipping lines are adding more vessels as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and other retailers sell more Asian-made clothes, toys and televisions in the US and Europe.

"The company needs to fund the expansion of its fleet and raising money in China is very easy right now,'' said Ji Lijun, an analyst at Shanghai Securities Co. "The move is also in line with the government's directive to list more state-owned companies on mainland stock markets.''

The Tianjin-based company sold 535 million shares to strategic investors, 356.9 million to institutional investors and 891.9 million to individual investors. Strategic investors have to hold their shares for a year, while the lock-up period for institutional investors is three months, the company said.

China International Capital Corp arranged the sale.

Chinese companies have sold more than 130 billion yuan (US$17 billion) worth of shares in Shanghai and Shenzhen this year.

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co (stock code: 601318), the nation's second-largest insurer, raised 38.9 billion yuan in February in the largest domestic share sale this year.

China Cosco plans to spend 6 billion yuan of the sale proceeds on new vessels it has already ordered, according to a share sale document. It will also use 1.68 billion yuan to buy a 51 percent stake in Cosco Logistics from its state-owned parent Cosco Group and another 401 million yuan for projects being developed by the logistics unit.