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China Construction Bank gains in HK debut
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-10-27 16:41
While Chinese banks are flush with $1.5 trillion in retail deposits, they are
plagued by the legacy of decades of state-directed lending that left the
industry with 1.6 trillion yuan in bad loans as of the end of June.
CCB is the healthiest of China's big four banks, with a non-performing-loan
ratio that has fallen to 3.9 percent, thanks in part to $25 billion in bailouts
from Beijing.
Overseas financial players, lured by an economy growing at nearly 10 percent
a year, have this year spent billions of dollars to buy stakes in Chinese
lenders in order to gain a foothold in the sector.
CCB, China's top property lender, this year attracted about $5.5 billion from
Bank of America and Singapore government investment agency Temasek Holdings,
which hold respective stakes of 8.67 percent and 6 percent.
The Beijing-based lender sold 26.486 billion shares, or 12 percent of its
share capital, in its IPO sponsored by Morgan Stanley, China International
Capital Corp and Credit Suisse First Boston.
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