China's party mouthpiece Xinhuanet applies for Shanghai IPO

SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - The online portal of China's state-run Xinhua news agency has applied for a Shanghai initial public offering (IPO), the securities regulator said, in what would be the second listing of a government website in a year.

Xinhuanet.com's planned IPO is likely to attract strong interest from investors, given Xinhua's status as the Communist Party's mouthpiece and its clout among China's state-owned companies.

Once listed, Xinhuanet would become China's second publicly-traded media company backed by the central government, after People.cn Co Ltd, the online portal of People's Daily that went public last April.

Xinhuanet's IPO application is being vetted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the regulator said on its website on Saturday, without indicating when the IPO would happen.