Banking

China Industrial Bank plans up to 50b yuan bond issue

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-03-29 14:20

SHANGHAI - Mid-sized Chinese lender Industrial Bank said on Tuesday that it planned to raise up to 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billon) by selling bonds in Shanghai or Hong Kong to fund asset expansion.

Other Chinese lenders including Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank), China Minsheng Banking Corp and Bank of China have also unveiled fundraising plans this year even after the industry raised tens of billions of dollars in 2010 to meet tougher capital requirements.

Industrial Bank, 13 percent owned by Hang Seng Bank Ltd, said the yuan-denominated bonds would have a maturity of up to 10 years, and would be sold either on Shanghai's interbank market or in Hong Kong.

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The bank will use the proceeds to acquire assets, and also plans to increase its stake in Union Trust Ltd by 4.9 percent to a total of 56.08 percent.

Industrial Bank said in its annual report Tuesday that its 2010 net profit jumped nearly 40 percent from a year earlier to 18.5 billion yuan on loan expansion and that its capital adequacy ratio, a key measure of financial strength, stood at 11.22 percent at the end of last year.

AgBank and Minsheng plan to issue subordinate bonds worth 30 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan respectively, sources close to the deals told Reuters earlier this month.

Bank of China also said it might issue debt this year to preserve its capital base.