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Everbright Bank gets nod for share placement

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-27 08:01

China Everbright Bank has received regulatory approval for an 11.5 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) private share placement, the bank said yesterday, moving it closer towards its initial public offering.

The lender applied in June 2008 to sell shares publicly in Shanghai, but the plan was delayed due to a 10-month nationwide IPO suspension amid a slump in domestic stock markets.

The mid-sized bank said it got the green light from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to sell stakes to eight Chinese state firms, including Shanghai Chengtou Holdings Co, Guangdong Expressway Development Co, Baosteel Group, China Reinsurance Group and Shenergy Group.

It did not specify how big a stake each investor would hold.

"The bank is sparing no efforts to prepare for a public listing," the lender said in an email statement.

The placement would boost its capital adequacy ratio above 10 percent, it added.

The bank's sister company, China Everbright Securities Co, sold 520 million shares this month in the mainland's second-biggest public listing this year, after China resumed IPOs in June as it grew confident about its stock market recovery.

Business expansion

China Everbright Bank said the eight big state investors would become its clients and that it would offer them services including deposits, settlement, lending, cash management and bond issuance.

Related readings:  China Everbright Bank gets approval to raise 11.5b yuan  Profit of China Everbright Bank slides in first half  Everbright Bank posts 7.32b yuan net profit in 2008  Everbright Bank to issue 5b yuan of subordinated bonds

The lender has recently opened branches in Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province and Luoyang in Central China's Henan province, according to the statement.

Its core capital adequacy ratio would rise to more than 7 percent after the placement, the bank said.

Its non-performing loan ratio fell to 1.42 percent by the end of June from 1.85 percent a year earlier.

The bank's net profits almost halved to 3.43 billion yuan in the first half, from 6.47 billion yuan in the same period last year.

Its domestic peers such as Bank of Communications and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China also reported flat profit growth in the first half due to shrinking interest margins despite a surge in lending.