Top lender debuts in Hong Kong bourse
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-27 14:56
The H shares of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the
largest commercial bank in China, started trading in the Hong Kong stock
exchange on Friday.
ICBC's shares opened at 3.60 HK dollars, 17 percent
higher than its initial public offering (IPO) price of 3.07 HK dollars, well
meeting market expectations of a rise between 10 and 20 percent.
"This
is a milestone in our bank's development, and we are aiming to turn our bank
into one that will provide best service and high economic returns," said Jiang
Jianqing, chairman of the ICBC, at the launching ceremony in Hong Kong.
Boosted by the ICBC's strong debut, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 47
points,or 0.25 percent, to open at 18,400.81 on Friday, surpassing the previous
record of 18,398 points scored in March 2000.
The is the first Chinese
enterprise to have issued the record-smashing IPO and have been listed
simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai bourses.
In Shanghai, the ICBC
A shares opened at 3.4 yuan (0.43 U.S. dollars), 8.97 percent higher than its
IPO price of 3.12 yuan (0.39 U.S. dollars).
Including the overallotment
option, the ICBC raised 21.9 billion U.S. dollars through its IPO, far exceeding
the previous record, an 18.4-billion-U.S.-dollar IPO by Japanese mobile phone
company NTT DoCoMo Inc. in 1998.
In Hong Kong, retail investors ordered
shares worth 423.7 billion HK dollars or 78 times more stock than was offered to
them, outseating the Bank of China, which attracted 286 billion HK dollars in
retail orders, as the most popular IPO in Hong Kong history. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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