NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2007 (AP) -- Giant Interactive Group Inc. shares are expected to begin trading Thursday after the online game developer's initial public offering of 57.2 million American Depositary Shares priced above the anticipated price range at $15.50 each.

According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Giant expected the offering to price between $12 and $14 per ADS.

The company is selling 52.5 million of the shares, and a stockholder is offering the remaining 4.7 million. Each ADS represents 1 ordinary share.

Giant raised about $886.6 million from its portion of the IPO, which will be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures and possible acquisitions.

In conjunction with the IPO, Standard Chartered Private Equity Ltd. has agreed to buy $25 million of the company's ordinary shares at the IPO price.

Giant is a holding company based in the Cayman Islands that owns Giant Network, which makes massively multiplayer online role-playing games in China.

The game had grown to 1.3 million active paying players as of Sept. 30 since its release in Jan. 2006. According to market research firm International Data Corp., Giant's "ZT Online" was the most popular online game in China in 2006.

For the six months ended June 30, the company reported net income of $67.3 million on revenue of $90.3 million.

Merrill Lynch and UBS Investment Bank served as the IPO's lead underwriters. JP Morgan Securities, CIBC World Markets, Piper Jaffray and Susquehanna Financial Group also served as underwriters.

The underwriters have been given an option to buy up to about 8.6 million more ADS from the selling stockholder to cover any overallotments.

Giant ADS will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "GA."