Great Wall Motor has received an approval from China’s securities regulator to launch Shanghai initial public offering worth about US$ 500m.

The company plans to sell up to 304.2m A shares.

The proceeds from IPO will be secured for funding projects worth CNY 3.2bn (US$492m) for increasing annual production capacity to 800,000 units.

Great Wall is planning to start car production in Bulgaria by the end of this year as part of its plan to enter the European market.

See also: ANALYSIS: Europe’s first Chinese car plant is weeks away