Qingdao Port International Co is seeking to raise up to $337m from an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Chinese state-owned port operator intends to sell 776.38m new shares at HKD3.76 ($0.485) each and the listing date is planned on 6 June, according to a term sheet seen by The Wall Street Journal.

Qingdao Port has won the backing of six cornerstone investors that could buy nearly half the shares offered worth $167.7m. The port operator said the funds raised would be channeled to building port facilities.

Qingdao Port is ranked seventh in container throughput globally in 2013 on volumes of 15.52m teu, an increase of 7% year-on-year.