BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced Friday that next Tuesday it will examine the application by Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd. (China LCO) for its IPO on the A-share market.

    The announcement said the China LCO, the country's largest aluminum producer, plans to issue 1.2367 billion A shares, accounting for 9.6 percent of its total shares, at a price of 6.6 yuan (about 0.85 U.S. dollars) per share.

    The issue is not a public offering, but a share swap with shareholders of the Shandong Aluminum Co. Ltd. and the Lanzhou Aluminum Co. Ltd, after which the two smaller aluminum companies will be wholly controlled by the China LCO.

    The China LCO listed on the Hong Kong and New York bourses in 2001. The H share price closed at 9.05 HK dollars per share on Friday.

    At the end of the year's first quarter, the China LCO had a market cap of 100 billion HK dollars, according to a report by the company.

    The CSRC has earlier announced that it will examine the A-share IPO application by the Bank of Communications on Monday.

    The Chinese stock markets have been constantly rising since mid-2005, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbing from a low of less than 1,000 points to over 3,500 points. This bullish momentum has attracted many overseas-listed blue-chip companies to return to the mainland markets.