THE China State Construction Engineering Corp plans to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and aims to net about 42.6 billion yuan (US$6.14 billion) in an initial public offering.

The firm is waiting for approval from China's stock regulator for its IPO. Given the green light, the share sale will be the country's biggest so far this year and the fifth largest ever, industry insiders said.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement that it would consider on Thursday the firm's application to issue up to 12 billion A shares, or 40 percent of its expanded capital.

Founded last December with investment from several major state enterprises, the company obtained special permission from the State Council to list without fulfilling the requirement of three years of operations.

"The planned IPO of the big home builder will add pressure on market liquidity and volatility," said Zhang Qi, an analyst at Haitong Securities Co.

Last year, a total of 123 new firms debuted on China's two bourses. There were only 40-plus so far this year and among them, four are viewed as big caps, including China Coal Energy Co Ltd, China Railway Construction Corp Ltd, Mega Metal Resources Co Ltd and Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd.

The sharp reduction of IPOs is partly due to the stock market's correction since the beginning of this year, industry insiders said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has fallen more than one-third from its peak in October last year to end at 3,459.04.