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BoCom plans to issure 3.2b A shares

Updated: 2007-04-13 13:58

The Hong Kong-listed Bank of Communications (BoCom), China's fifth largest lender, plans to issue 3.2 billion A-shares and list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

The commission has received the bank's application to list on the yuan-dominated A-share market and it plans to hold a meeting on April 16 to examine the application, according to a notice post on CSRC's website.

The bank, the first domestic lender to list in Hong Kong, hopes the listing will improve its capital adequacy, The price for per share will be decided according to the bid price of buyers and the situation of the A-share market, according to bank's website.

The bank's net capital is 1.93 yuan (25 US cents) per share.

By issuing A-shares, the Shanghai-based bank will replenish its core capital, strengthen corporate governance and enjoy a "new platform for raising capital", said Jiang Chaoliang, board chairman of the bank early this year.

The bank announced in February that it would issue subordinated bonds worth 25 billion yuan through the country's interbank market.

The bank reported net profits of 12.27 billion yuan in 2006, a sharp increase of 32.7 percent from the previous year. The value of its assets totaled 1.71 trillion yuan, up 20.8 percent, according to a report released by the bank in March.

Its non-performing loan ratio dropped 0.36 percent from the beginning of the year to 2.01 percent, while the capital adequacy ratio, the measure of its own capital in proportion to its outstanding loans, declined 0.37 percent to 10.83 percent in January 2006, said the report.

BoCom, established in 1908, became China's first joint-stock commercial bank in 1987 and listed on the Hong Kong stock market in 2005.