China Shenhua Energy Co, the nation's biggest coal producer, may win permission from the Chinese stock market regulator next week for a Shanghai share sale that could become the country's largest this year.

Shenhua Energy's application to sell as many as 1.8 billion yuan-denominated A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange will be reviewed on Monday, the Beijing-based China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement posted on its Website yesterday.

The coal supplier will use the proceeds to expand mines, power production, railroads and harbors and to fund acquisitions. Shenhua, whose Hong Kong-dollar H shares have traded since 2005, will sell stock to mainland Chinese investors for the first time, tapping the best-performing market this year.

Shenhua shares have doubled this year, outpacing the 21 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng index and gained 3.5 percent yesterday to close at HK$38.55, according to Bloomberg News.

At that price, the Shanghai sale could raise about HK$69.4 billion (US$8.9 billion).

Shenhua will use 16.7 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) of the proceeds to invest in 19 coal, power and transportation projects, it said in a prospectus published yesterday. Shenhua will allocate 16 billion yuan to supplement working capital, with the rest used to buy coal and power assets from its parent and for other projects in China.

The coal producer will price the shares at a level that reflects the company's "real value," Chairman Chen Biting said last month.

Shenhua will spend about 27 billion yuan by the end of 2009 to expand coal production, Chen said at the time.