* MCC Shanghai IPO freezes 1.6 trillion yuan ($234 billion)
* Demand may push its Shanghai shares up 40 pct on listing
* Plus HK offer, MCC IPO will be world's 2nd largest in 2009
By Lu Jianxin and Jacqueline Wong
SHANGHAI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC), which is raising up to $5.3 billion in the world's second-largest initial public offering (IPO) this year, has seen the subscriptions to its Shanghai portion of the IPO freezing up a huge 1.6 trillion yuan ($234 billion), boding well for its listing debut later this month.
MCC, one of China's biggest engineering and construction firms, which is also active on global markets, sold 3.5 billion shares in Shanghai, or 21 percent of its expanded capital, at 5.42 yuan per share, the top end of an indicated price range, it said in a statement on Friday.
MCC has said it needs funds from the Shanghai IPO to develop overseas projects including a copper mine project in Afghanistan. It also needs funds for technical upgrades, equipment purchases, property development and supplemental working capital.
A company document issued on Thursday said MCC would start trading in Shanghai on Sept. 21 and in Hong Kong on Sept. 24.
CITIC Securities <600030.SS> was the Shanghai IPO's sole lead underwriter, while Morgan Stanley <MS.N>, Citigroup <C.N> and China International Capital Corp (CICC) are among book runners for the Hong Kong deal.
Initial analysts' estimates for its Shanghai listing debut price stand at around 7.5 yuan, rising about 40 percent from its IPO price because of huge demand and typically strong Chinese investor interest in newcomers. The estimations could be adjusted slightly in line with stock market conditions.
MCC's main retail portion of the Shanghai IPO was 91 times subscribed on Wednesday, freezing up 1.04 trillion yuan, according to Reuters calculations based on figures quoted by MCC's Friday statement published on the Shanghai Securities News.
The remaining institutional portion was 75 times subscribed on Tuesday, locking in 566 billion yuan, according to the statement. Money would be returned to unsuccessful bidders on Friday for institutions and for retail investors on Monday.
Fund demand ahead of MCC's IPO pushed China's weighted average seven-day bond repurchase rate <CN7DRP=CFXS>, the barometer of liquidity on the money market, to a one-month high of 1.80 percent on Monday, though the rate has since fallen back.
MCC is also selling up to 2.87 billion H shares in Hong Kong worth as much as HK$19.55 billion ($2.5 billion).
If it prices its H shares also at the top of an indicated price range of HK$6.16 to HK$6.81, it will raise $5.3 billion combining with the Shanghai portion to be the world's second largest IPO this year, only below China State Construction Engineering Corp's <601668.SS> $7.3 billion IPO in July [ID:nSHA330047].
MCC will use the H-share proceeds to fund payment of mining rights in Afghanistan, Argentina and Pakistan, and to fund iron and steel mine projects in Australia, India, Vietnam and Mongolia. Proceeds will also be used to repay bank borrowings and to fund potential acquisitions of overseas mineral resources. (US$1=6.83 Yuan=HK$7.8)
