Agricultural Bank of China last night took a step closer to launching the world's biggest initial public offering when it set a price range for the shares it plans to sell to international investors in Hong Kong.

Agricultural Bank, the last of China's big lenders to go public, plans to sell 25.4bn shares in Hong Kong for HK$2.88-HK$3.48 each. The offering could raise as much as $13bn but only if the shares sell at the top of the range and underwriters on the deal trigger a “greenshoe” option to increase the size of the offering by 15 per cent.

Last night, the bank had not decided on a price range for the 22.2bn shares it plans to sell in Shanghai, although Chinese media were reporting that the range would be Rmb2.60-Rmb2.70. At that price, Agricultural Bank's dual listing could raise as much as $23bn, exceeding the record $21.9bn that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China raised in 2006.

However, analysts say that Agricultural Bank, considered to be the weakest of the country's big lenders, might have to settle for a price towards the lower end of the range.

The price range set for the Hong Kong portion of the IPO would give the shares a price-to-book value, a widely watched metric of bank valuations, of 1.55 to 1.79, lower than many of the bank's Hong Kong-listed peers.

The Chinese lender had hoped to raise as much as $30bn in the IPO but expectations have sagged in recent weeks as global markets have weakened. The Shanghai stock market has fallen about 20 per cent since mid-April on worries about the economy and concern that a flood of bank fund-raisings will hit the market simultaneously.