China Everbright to launch HK share offering

BEIJING - China Everbright Bank announced on Monday it will launch a share offering in Hong Kong of up to HK$21.7 billion to enhance its capital adequacy ratio.

The mid-sized lender said it will issue 5.08 billion shares at an indicative price of HK$3.83 to HK$4.27 per share starting on Tuesday. The shares will become tradable on Dec 20.

The move is expected to raise the bank's capital adequacy ratio by one percentage point from the current 9.65 percent, according to Lin Li, vice president of the bank.

Headquartered in Beijing, the Shanghai-listed bank planned to raise $6 billion by landing a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in 2011 but abolished the plan later that year due to the sluggish economy. In May 2012, it again filed an IPO plan but postponed it.

Its stock listed on the Shanghai bourse dipped 0.35 percent to end Monday at 2.87 yuan per share.