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China's securities regulator said it will review on Friday a plan by China Construction Bank Corp. to issue up to 9 billion yuan-denominated A shares, in what could be the country's biggest ever domestic initial public offering.

The Shanghai offering by Construction Bank, which piloted China's listing of its Big Four banks by selling $9.2 billion worth of shares in Hong Kong in October 2005, is another sign of the growing importance of China's domestic capital markets.

Based on the closing price of its H shares Monday of HK$6.51, Construction Bank could raise around CNY57 billion (US$7.56 billion) in the offering. Its rival, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., sold CNY46.64 billion A shares in October last year in China's biggest domestic IPO so far.

Bank of America Corp. has an 8.52% stake in Construction Bank, which will likely be diluted by the A-share IPO. In June 2005, it paid $3 billion for a 9% stake with an option to raise its ownership to 19.9% within five-and-a-half years. Its stake fell after the Hong Kong listing.

A person close to the deal said in August that Construction Bank had hired China International Capital Corp., Citic Securities Co., and China Cinda Asset Management Corp. to underwrite its Shanghai listing.

Construction Bank said last month that the listing plan had received shareholder approval. The proceeds from the offering will be used to strengthen its capital base and raise its capital adequacy ratio, it said in July.

A shares are yuan-denominated stock that are traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Foreign investors are limited to participating in the local stock market through the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program.