Anta Sports Products Ltd, China's largest maker of athletic shoes, may raise HK$3.17 billion (US$405 million) in a share sale that attracted Houston Rockets' owner Leslie Alexander, two people familiar with the deal said.

The company will sell 600 million new shares at HK$4.28 to HK$5.28 each in Hong Kong, said the sources, declining to be identified before an official statement. The initial public offering values Anta, which tripled profit last year, at up to US$1.6 billion.

Alexander will invest HK$234.5 million in the IPO, according to Bloomberg News. China's Yao Ming, whose play in the National Basketball Association helped propel the game's popularity in China ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is the Rockets' center.

"We like the market-leading position that Anta has created in the sporting goods field," said Andy Mantel, managing director at Pacific Sun Investment Management Ltd in Hong Kong, adding that he's interested in buying the stock.

Chinese consumer-goods firms, including Belle International Holdings and Intime Department Store (Group) Co, have gone public this year, taking advantage of soaring valuations to raise funds.

The nation's sportswear market is growing about 23 percent annually, according to Daiwa Securities Group Inc, which is helping arrange the IPO.

Last year, Anta had the largest share of the athletic shoes market in China, according to its Website. The company, with 4,000 sales outlets operated by agents and third parties, has the second-biggest distribution network among China's sporting goods makers, after Li Ning Co, Daiwa said.

The high end of the price range values Anta at 19.7 times its estimated 2008 earnings, the people said. Nike Inc, the world's largest maker of athletic shoes, trades at 16.7 times next year's earnings.

Anta had 3.2 percent of China's overall sportswear market in 2005, trailing Nike's 13.1 percent, Adidas with 12.3 percent and Li Ning on 9.6 percent, according to a share sale document distributed to fund managers yesterday that cited ZOU Marketing, a Shanghai-based sports consultant firm.