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| A man walks past a logo of the Industrial &
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in front of its local branch in
Hefei, east China's Anhui province October 16, 2006.
[Reuters] |
The world-record US$19.1 billion public
offer by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
was met with great enthusiasm by domestic and overseas investors
yesterday.
The bank, the largest by assets in
China, began accepting subscriptions from institutional investors for
shares to be listed in Shanghai and simultaneously launched an H-share
public offering in Hong Kong.
The initial public offering
(IPO) represents about 15 per cent of the bank's enlarged
share capital.
ICBC is offering 1.77 billion shares, or 5 per cent of the total
offering, to Hong Kong retail investors. They have until midday on
Thursday to place their orders.
The bank makes its trading debut simultaneously in Hong Kong and
Shanghai on October 27.
The dual IPO, China's first, is expected to be the world's largest,
exceeding the 1998 stock sale by Japanese mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo,
which raised US$18.4 billion, according to market data provider Dealogic.
Around 138 domestic institutional investors, as many as 90 per cent of
those who participated in the bank's earlier price inquiry process, have
made offers to buy the bank's A shares.
The bank set its A-share price yesterday at between 2.6 yuan (33 US
cents) and 3.12 yuan (39 US cents) 1.95 times and 2.23 times its 2006
book value , bankers involved
in the sale said.
ICBC is offering 35.4 billion shares at between HK2.56 and HK$3.07
apiece in its global offering.
The bank is scheduled to fix the final prices on October 23.
Thousands of Hong Kong residents lined up outside banks yesterday to
apply for the shares. Analysts estimated that retail investors in Hong
Kong might pump in a combined capital of HK$300 billion during the
subscription.
Bank of China, the country's second-biggest lender which raised about
US$11.2 billion for its IPO in May, attracted around US$121 billion in
demand from institutional investors; and individual investors in Hong Kong
ordered about US$38 billion.
Shares in China Construction Bank, the country's third-largest lender,
have risen 54 per cent since its US$9.2 billion global share sale last
year.
(Agencies) | 
