NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - Chinadotcom said it'll launch an initial public offering of its CDC Mobile software unit as the tech firm moves to cash in on market hunger for Chinese investments. Riding a 200 percent rise in its stock price in the past year, Chinadotcom (CHINA is taking a play out of the IPO book from the roaring 1990s, when high flying tech companies launched red-hot IPOs by carving out units and selling them to eager investors. Chinadotcom's announcement comes the same day China Life (LFC ) is expected to officially announce pricing on its $3 billion IPO. The IPO is scheduled to trade on Dec. 17. . China Life reportedly priced its IPO at HK$3.625 each -- near the top of its range of HK$2.98 to HK$3.65, Reuters and Bloomberg reported Friday, citing bankers and a source close to the deal. A person who answered the phone at the Citigroup syndicate desk declined to comment on the price of China Life Chinadotcom said it'll reorganize its mobile and portal unit as a wholly-owned subsidiary, chinadotcom Mobile Interactive Corp. Chinadotcom plans to register the stock of CDC Mobile as American Depositary Shares. The company said the IPO will, "fund the operations of CDC Mobile following its reorganization as an independent company" with a business of providing "mobile services and applications, advertising and interactive media and Internet services." The offering is expected to debut in the first half of 2004, subject to SEC effectiveness and the regulatory OKs. China Life, which is listing in New York and Hong Kong on Dec. 17 and 18 respectively, priced 161 million shares at $18.68 each as part of the U.S. offering of American Depositary Shares, according to Dealogic, the New York-based IPO tracking firm. In a sign of huge demand for the IPO, China Life (LFC priced near the top of its $15.35-$18.80 range and upped the size of the deal to 161 million shares, from the earlier level of 153 million. At $3 billion, China Life's IPO is the biggest in the world this year after British telephone directory Yell's $1.9 billion offering. It's also the second biggest ever to come out of China after China Unicom's (CHU $5.25 billion blockbuster back in 2000. The pricing also comes on the heels of another phenomenally successful Chinese IPO -- Shanghai-based travel Web site Ctrip (CTRP U.S.-listed shares of Ctrip.com, which priced at $18, opened at $24.01 on the Nasdaq Tuesday and climbed to a high of $37.35, becoming the first IPO since Transmeta (TMTA to double its offer price in its first day of trade.Tony Lau, analyst at Kim Eng Securities, said that the pricing of China Life was within expectations and expects the company's stock to push past HK$4 per share on its Hong Kong market debut on December 18. It's also coming at a time when global investors are devouring Chinese stocks, hoping that this will be a way to tap into the mainland's booming economy. China's economy is expected to grow over 8 percent this year after posting a 9.1 percent leap in gross domestic product in the third quarter.
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