Guangshen has pinned down the acquisition price of Guangzhou Yang Cheng railway assets at 10.14 billion yuan (US$1.33 billion) in a deal announced in 2004 and due for completion within a month.

"There is strong interest in China's railway companies and Guangshen is the only overseas-listed rail operator of China," said Y.K. Chan, a fund manager at Philip Capital Management.

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Encouraged by the government's ambitious plan to address endemic congestion on transport arteries and booming domestic travel spurred by increasing wealth, domestic railway operators are expanding at a rapid clip.

Guangshen, the largest rail operator in booming southern China with more than 4,000 km of railway under its management, is considered by many investors to be a good proxy for domestic railway sector reform.

Last December, Guangshen raised 10.3 billion yuan from the sale of 2.75 billion A shares, or 39 percent of its expanded share capital, to fund the acquisition of assets from Guangzhou Railway Group Yang Cheng Railway Co.

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