Clifford Chance acts for global co-ordinators on China-based mining company's long-planned initial public offering

Baker & McKenzie is advising Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group as it prepares to raise $500m (£308m) in a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The US firm fielded a team led by securities and capital markets partner Elsa Chan (pictured) in Hong Kong to advise the China-based company on its long-planned initial public offering (IPO). 

Magic circle firm Clifford Chance (CC) is understood to be acting for CITIC Securities International, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS as joint global co-ordinators on the deal. 

Bakers' role comes after the firm advised on the IPO of Dynam Japan Holdings, a Japanese operator of arcades known as pachinko halls. It became the first Japanese company to have a primary listing in Hong Kong.

Zhengzhou, China's largest maker of coal-mining support equipment, is already listed in Shanghai, but received approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August for an offering of 20% of its enlarged share capital. 

The IPO was initially expected to close by the end of last month. However, press reports suggest that the float may be delayed. 

Zhengzhou's planned listing comes amid a dry run for Hong Kong's IPO market, which has raised just $3bn (£1.8bn) in new listings between January and September, compared with $23.8bn (£14.7bn) for the same period in 2011, according to Dealogic. 

If Zhengzhou's IPO goes ahead, it is likely to be the largest IPO in Hong Kong since Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal Company's $903m (£556m) listing in July and would be the first, alongside Fosun Pharmaceutical, to list after the summer.