The dairy company, backed by private equity group PAG, will finalise the share price on Thursday before listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 18, the filings showed.

At the top of the range, the IPO will value China Youran at $4.2 billion. The company plans to sell 715.43 million shares, with an option to sell a further 107.3 million shares.

The deal includes just two cornerstone investors, Citic Prudential and Harvest Private Wealth, which have subscribed for a combined 6.94% of the shares on offer.

The small cornerstone stake is unusual for a Hong Kong IPO where those investors typically lock in a higher percentage to ensure they get shares in the deal if the IPO is oversubscribed.

CARsgen Therapeutics Holdings, which launched its Hong Kong IPO of up to $400 million on Monday, has cornerstone investors for a stake of up to 64%, according to its filings.

In its prospectus, China Youran said it would use 75% of the funds raised to build and buy new dairy farms, 15% to buy dairy cattle stock and the remainder for working capital.

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; editing by Richard Pullin)

By Scott Murdoch