China's ICBC: The World's Largest IPO Ever

Well it's official. On Sept. 27, China's mega-lender and biggest mainland bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), disclosed details of its upcoming $19 billion share offering in Hong Kong and Shanghai that will go down in history as the world's biggest initial stock listing. And judging by the overwhelming investor responses to previous share offerings by China Merchants Bank and Bank of China this year, get ready for a stampede.

ICBC certainly has a lot going for it. It is the mainland's biggest bank with $815 billion in assets and some $415 billion in outstanding loans. And it is No. 1 in corporate and personal banking in China and has as branch network of some 18,000 branches, according to an initial sales document posted on the Web site of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. (The ICBC offering documents can be found here.)