HONG KONG: Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd, the largest mainland developer by third-quarter sales, increased the size of its Hong Kong initial public offering by 7 percent to as much as HK$6.46 billion ($834 million).

The Guangzhou-based developer and shareholders are offering a combined 1.61 billion shares at HK$3 to HK$4 each, the company said in a prospectus yesterday.

Evergrande executives didn't give a reason for the increase at a press briefing yesterday.

"The international capital markets improved, so our investors cut their holdings to support our IPO," Evergrande Chief Executive Officer Xia Haijun told Hong Kong reporters via videoconference from Singapore yesterday.

The developer is joining competitors including Excellence Real Estate Group Ltd and Yuzhou Properties Co to raise money.

Joseph Lau, chairman of Chinese Estate Holdings Ltd, and Cheng Yu-tung, the billionaire chairman of New World Development Co, will each take $50 million worth of shares locked up for six months as cornerstone investors in Evergrande, the prospectus said.

Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 10/22/2009 page4)