RETAIL investors will be able to subscribe to China Construction Bank's nine billion yuan-backed A shares sale in Shanghai on Monday, the lender said yesterday.

The Beijing-based lender will sell up to 5.85 billion shares, or 65 percent of the offering, to retail investors.

The remaining 3.15 billion shares, or 35 percent of the offering, will be sold to institutional investors, the bank said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Institutional investors can subscribe to the shares during the two trading days ending on Monday.

The bank will announce the price range on Friday and post the final price on Wednesday.

The bank, one of the country's big four lenders, yesterday started a road show in various cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

"The bank's listing process is quite quick, with its A-share debut very likely to come this month," said Qiu Zhicheng, a Haitong Securities Co analyst.

The bank's A shares will debut on September 25. The lender gained the approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the share sale last week.

The lender didn't disclose how much it plans to raise but it may net HK$61.47 billion (US$7.9 billion) based on the lender's closing price of HK$6.65 yesterday in Hong Kong. The A share price sale may be discounted on its H-share price.

The share sale by the bank may be the biggest on the Chinese mainland. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China topped as the world's biggest initial public offering by raising US$19.1 billion in October in a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. It raked in 46.6 billion yuan (US$6 billion) in Shanghai then.

CITIC Securities Co, China International Capital Corp, partly owned by Morgan Stanley, and China Cinda Asset Management Corp are the underwriters of the Construction Bank's share sale.