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Pudong Bank plans $4.4b fund raising

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-10 13:46

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank said on Friday it planned to raise as much as 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) via a sale of shares and bonds to bolster capital as annual profit more than doubled on rapid loan expansion.

Related readings:  Pudong Bank full year net profit up 128%  Shanghai bank set to issue 8.2b yuan bonds  Shanghai Pudong Bank denies talk of restarting shares sale

Pudong Bank, a medium-sized Chinese lender partly owned by Citigroup Inc, plans to sell up to 15 billion yuan in domestic A shares in a private placement with institutional investors. It would also issue up to 15 billion yuan in subordinated debt, the bank said in a statement.

The funds will be used to bolster its core capital and boost its capital adequacy ratio, which stood at 9.06 percent at the end of 2008.

China's banking watchdog has urged medium-sized listed lenders to strengthen capital and keep the adequacy ratio above 10 percent as a government-led lending spree to support a slowing economy increases potential risks at banks.

Raising new funds will improve Pudong Bank's financial condition and ease capital restrictions on asset expansion, China International Capital Corp said in a report on Friday.

Pudong Bank's 2008 net profit surged 127.6 percent from a year earlier to 12.5 billion yuan, as total loans outstanding jumped 26.6 percent. Its bad loan ratio dipped 0.25 percentage points to 1.21 percent at the end of last year.

This year, the lender targets a 10 percent profit increase and loan growth of 28 percent, as China's economy slows and the country's latest string of interest rate cuts hurts banks' margins.

Pudong Bank said the fund-raising plans are pending shareholder approval. The new shares will be priced at no less than 90 percent of the average price over the last 20 trading days.