China's Huishang Bank has invited banks to submit proposals for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) which could raise as much as $1.5 billion, IFR reported on Wednesday.

Huishang originally planned to raise about 10 billion yuan ($1.63 billion) from a Shanghai IPO, but is now looking to list in Hong Kong, where it is likely to raise $1 billion to $1.5 billion, IFR reported.

The deadline for banks to submit proposals is June 8.

Huishang is one of 16 city and rural commercial lenders to file listing applications to China's securities regulator. Citic Securities was the sponsor for its Shanghai IPO.

With no signs of a reopening of the A-share IPO market, Huishang obtained shareholder approval in April to list in Hong Kong.

Bank of Chongqing, after waiting for almost five years to list in the A-share market, has already decided to turn to Hong Kong for a proposed listing of up to $600 million in the second half of the year via Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The number of IPO applicants in China has fallen to 666 from more than 800 last November, when the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) froze the IPO market and started inspecting applicants' books for evidence of fraud, according to the latest data posted on its website.

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