China COSCO Holdings Co, Asia's largest container line, sold 15 billion yuan (US$2 billion) of stock in Shanghai to buy new ships as Chinese exports of clothes, toys and televisions surge.

Investors bought 1.78 billion shares at 8.48 yuan each, the top end of the price range, on Monday, the company said in a Shanghai Stock Exchange statement yesterday.

Chinese ports handled a fifth of the world's container volume last year and traffic may rise another 80 percent by 2010. Hong Kong-listed China COSCO sold shares in Shanghai for the first time after the city's benchmark stock index doubled this year to a record.

"The company needs to fund the expansion of its fleet and raising money in China is very easy right now," said Ji Lijun, an analyst at Shanghai Securities Co. "The move is also in line with the government's directive to list more State-owned companies on mainland stock markets."

China COSCO, based in Tianjin, plans to double its fleet capacity to 800,000 boxes by 2010, according to Ji. The company raised HK$9.52 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong in June 2005.

The Shanghai-listed shares were sold at a 22 percent discount to China COSCO's Hong Kong-listed stock. The company's Hong Kong shares have gained 15 percent since June 4, when China COSCO won approval for the Shanghai sale.

China COSCO plans to spend six billion yuan of the sale proceeds on 12 new vessels, according to a share sale document. It will also use 1.68 billion yuan to buy a 51 percent stake in Cosco Logistics from its State-owned parent Cosco Group and another 401 million yuan for projects being developed by the logistics unit.

China COSCO had a total of 26 container vessels on order at the end of 2006, with a combined capacity of 166,320 standard 20-foot boxes, it said in March.