China CITIC Bank Corp., the country's No. 7 commercial lender, lowered the fund-raising target and tightened the price range for its dual Hong Kong and Shanghai IPO, which could now raise up to US$5.4 billion, according to a term sheet obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

Previously, the bank had been aiming to raise as much as $5.7 billion in a deal that is still on track to be the world's biggest initial public offering so far this year.

One Hong Kong fund manager said the upper end of the lender's earlier proposed price range was too high.
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"It's riskier than China Merchants Bank because of its high concentration of corporate loans," the fund manager said.

The offer will close on April 19, with a trading debut set for April 27.

CITIC Bank is now selling 4.885 billion Hong Kong shares at HK$5.06-HK$5.86 apiece, compared with an earlier range of HK$4.72-HK$6.17, the term sheet said. It is selling 2.3 billion A shares to be listed in Shanghai at 5.00 yuan to 5.80 yuan each, versus an earlier range of 4.66-6.10 yuan each.

The new range values the lender at 2.57-2.75 times its 2007 book value, compared with 2.48-2.81 times under its old range.

By comparison, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , the country's largest lender, trades at 2.8 times 2007 book value in Hong Kong, while top non-state bank China Merchants trades at 4.33 times 2007 book value.

Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and CITIC International Financial Holding plan to buy roughly US$1 billion of shares in CITIC Bank.

The IPO will be just the second simulaneous listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, following ICBC's share sale last year that raised a record US$21.9 billion.

Investors have crowded into listings by Chinese banks, which they view as proxies for the country's 10 percent economic growth and rising consumer spending power.

China International Capital Corp. (CICC), Citigroup , CITIC Securities , HSBC and Lehman Brothers are sponsors of the listing.