by Sarah McBride

The last of China's big, state-owned banks is finally gearing up for its stock market debut in Hong Kong and China. Agricultural Bank of China could raise over $20 billion and is expected to be one of the biggest IPO's in history.

Update: ABC raised $19.21 billion and the offering could go up to as much as $22.1 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. That would make it the world's biggest IPO.

The bank's mission is to help rural residents and promote development of rural areas. That's particularly important given the widening disparity between China's relatively prosperous coast and less developed interior.

But don't tell that to investors.

 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bank is pitching itself as a way to tap into inland growth— and is stressing that it doesn't lend money to poor farmers. Its website emphasizes that it lends to urban clients as well as rural.

Marketing the bank as a straightforward commercial lender underscores the tension in China between sticking to socialist principles and embracing capitalism. If those seem hard to reconcile — no worries. China can just offer its usual explanation: The bank epitomizes socialism with special Chinese characteristics.