Money

China Everbright Bank eyes strategic investors

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-26 13:49

China Everbright Bank plans to place out about half of its planned initial public offering to strategic investors, the official Securities Times reported on Saturday.

Everbright Bank, China's 11th biggest bank by assets, planned to sell up to 6.1 billion yuan-denominated A shares on the Shanghai stock exchange later this year, the company said in a draft prospectus last Thursday.

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The bank, controlled by Central Huijin, investment arm of China's sovereign wealth fund, hopes the strategic placement will help reduce the impact of the IPO on the domestic stock market, the newspaper reported, citing an identified source with the bank.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index fell nearly one-third in the first half of the year, making it one of the worst performers globally. Weak sentiment was due partly to a surge of share offerings on the market, soaking up liquidity.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission is set on Monday to review the IPO, which could raise the bank about 20 billion yuan.

The lead underwriters for the IPO are China Jianyin Investment Securities, Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co, and China International Capital Corp, in which Morgan Stanley holds a stake that it is planning to sell.