2010-10-29 15:39

Bank of China, the country's fourth-largest lender by assets, said on Friday it plans to raise up to 60 billion yuan ($9 billion) through a rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong to replenish capital, Reuters reported.

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Bank of China will sell one share for every 10 existing shares and will start taking subscriptions on November 3, the firm said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange.

The new shares are priced at 2.36 yuan apiece or HK$2.74, and that compares with a 3.55 yuan closing on Thursday in Shanghai and a HK$4.66 ($69 cents) close in Hong Kong.

Bank of China announced its fundraising plans in July but only received approval from China's securities regulators last week.

Chinese banks are rushing to raise tens of billions of dollars in an effort to meet tighter capital requirements demanded by regulators to pre-empt a rise in bad loans.

Last week China Construction Bank got regulatory approval for its 75 billion yuan rights issue.