Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word ipo. 5 news.

CHINA Pacific Insurance (Group) Co, the nation's third-largest insurer, raised 30 billion yuan (US$4.1 billion) in its Shanghai initial public offering yesterday, the second-biggest mainland share sale by a Chinese insurance company. Pacific Insurance, 19.9 percent owned by companies controlled by funds managed by the Carlyle Group, sold one billion new shares at 30 yuan each, the top end of a range, according to a sale document. Investors are piling into China's IPOs, seeking an escape from a secondary stock market disturbed by concerns about rising domestic interest rates and other government measures to cool growth in the world's fastest-growing major economy. "Chinese investors still have a lot of appetite for insurance stocks, since there will be only three companies traded domestically," said Ke Shifeng, who helps oversee about US$5 billion of Greater China assets for Martin Currie Investment Management in Shanghai. "The IPO market remains red-hot unlike the

Larry Ellison's NetSuite of San Mateo is expected to make its initial public offering of stock later this week, probably on Friday.

China Pacific priced its Class A shares at the top of a range, raising $4.07 billion in the insurer's Shanghai IPO.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Infonxx Inc. late Friday filed a $250 million initial public offering with underwriters Goldman Sachs , J.P. Morgan and Bank of America Securities . Infonxx bills itself as the largest provider of branded directory assistance services in Europe and the largest independent provider of outsourced directory assistance services in the U.S. The company has yet to determine its trading symbol or its stock exchange.

Only a handful of initial public offerings are expected as the 2007 domestic IPO market wraps up, including the long-awaited debut of NetSuite.