Archer Daniels Midland invests in Chinese AgBank

US food giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) will invest up to US$200 million in Agricultural Bank of China's upcoming share sale, in what could be the world's largest initial public offering.

The purchase would put ADM among several other key investors in the massive initial public offering (IPO) next month, including the sovereign investment funds of Qatar and Kuwait, British bank Standard Chartered and two Hong Kong tycoons.

ADM will buy between US$100 million and US$200 million worth of AgBank shares.

AgBank, the last of China's big four lenders to list, plans to float its shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai next month.

Recent estimates on the size of the offering have ranged from about US$19 billion to about US$28 billion.

The world's biggest IPO so far is the US$22 billion offering of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in 2006.