China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC) is seeking strategic investors before getting listed later this year, according to a senior company official.

"We are in talks with several leading domestic financial institutions for strategic investment in the company," CATIC Assistant President Tao Ruichang said.

China's largest aviation trading company is targeting big financial holding corporations that deal with comprehensive industrial businesses, he said after the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense issued a guideline on March 2.

The guideline encourages military firms to expand their manufacturing activities for civilian use and to raise funds through the capital market. The CATIC controls three A-share companies listed in Shenzhen and three H-share firms trading on the Hong Kong bourse.

The restructuring of shareholders is part of CATIC's plan to go totally public.

The company aims to expand its civil airplane trading units by going public, and is seeking strategic investors, either overseas or private.

Lin Zouming, president of China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), the country's leading aviation manufacturer, said earlier that the company could list four of its units this year.

Public companies related to military industry have been buoyant in recent weeks. Shares of Hubei Aviation Precision Machinery Technology Co, a public company controlled by AVIC I, rose 8 percent in February, and that of Guizhou Liyuan Hydraulic Co, another AVIC I listed company, jumped 16 percent.

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