Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., the listed unit of Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation, China's largest steelmaker, on Friday denied media reports that it is preparing to go public overseas.

Baoshan had made no preparations for offshore listing, nor had it had any "substantial plan", though it has never given up the goal of doing so at an appropriate time, the company said in a statement.

"There has been no timetable so far for listing overseas, which will depend on the overseas market and development of relevant conditions," it said.

Media reports have said Baosteel was in the initial stages of preparing to list its core iron and steel assets on the New York Stock Exchange in November.

Baosteel is one of the biggest global steel conglomerates with an annual production capacity of 20 million tons. It ranked 296th on the 2006 list of Fortune 500 companies with sales revenue of 126.6 billion yuan (16.2 U.S.dollars) and was top of a list of China's 500 largest manufacturers.

Source: Xinhua