The Shanghai-based company said in a statement that it would sell 5.25 million American depository shares or 10.50 million ordinary shares in the listing and expects to raise US$73.50 million.

The IPO price is set at US$14, higher than its estimated range of US$11-13, unusual among many Internet-concept stocks listed on the NASDAQ this year.

The IPO came a few days later than expected.

It is believed that the delay might help 51job to win more support from investors.

Some analysts also contributed the high IPO price to its integrated human resources service provider concept, which may be familiar to international investors and is popular in the United States.

The human resource service provider achieved revenues of US$35.44 million and profits of US$3.9 million in 2003, compared with US$19.08 million and US$471,000 respectively in 2002.

Advertising revenues from printed media accounted for 62.3 percent of the total, while the online recruitment service and the executive search service contributed 26.2 percent and 5.4 percent respectively. The remainder came from other human resource related services.

The IPO is expected to further consolidate 51job's position in the Chinese market, where 51job and Chinahr compete for the Number One online HR provider's title.

Morgan Stanley is the lead underwriter of the IPO.

(China Daily September 30, 2004)