HONG KONG: - Chinese shopping mall developer Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co. has raised $3.7 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, a report said Tuesday, making it the biggest in the world by a real estate firm.

The company, owned by the property arm of Dalian Wanda Group, sold 600 million shares at HK$48 ($6.19) apiece -- near the higher end of its indicative price range -- Dow Jones Newswires said, citing people close to the matter.

The sale beats the $2.9 billion IPO of Singapore's Global Logistic Properties in 2010, it added.

The Beijing-based company, controlled by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, is one of the world's largest developers of shopping malls, owning dozens across China. Its parent group bought US cinema chain AMC Entertainment Holdings two years ago.

The IPO would be the city's largest public listing this year and comes after China last moth cut interest rates to spur and give a lift to the mainland property market, which has seen prices falling for months.

Wanda has slashed its IPO fundraising target by about a third from the original goal, possibly to attract investors concerned by the slowing real estate market, while analysts have also pointed to the company's high debt levels.

In September it was reported as seeking to raise about $5 billion-$6 billion in the float.

The company is expected to list by December 23.

A string of Chinese companies are tapping into international investors through the former British colony's bourse.

Its stock exchange has now climbed to the second in the world in terms of IPO fund raising activities, Dow Jones said.

Shares in China General Nuclear Power Co., the nation's largest nuclear power producer, surged almost 20 percent on their debut last week after raising more than US$3 billion in its IPO.

-AFP