The upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of shares in China's
fifth largest lender in Hong Kong is stirring up interest both at
home and abroad.
This comes despite other share offerings threatening to steal
the Bank of Communications' (BOCOM) thunder.
Ben Kwok, director of KGI Securities, said the IPO for BOCOM
should appeal to the market as HSBC's 20 percent holding in BOCOM
gives investors a vote of confidence in the offering.
"BOCOM is the first state-owned bank to be listed in Hong Kong
and I would not doubt the attractiveness of the bank to the
market," said Kwok.
BOCOM began marketing its US$1.5 billion IPO on Wednesday by
selling 5.9 billion shares, or 13 percent of its enlarged share
capital, after winning listing approval from the Hong Kong stock
exchange on Tuesday.
It plans to open its order book for IPO shares around June 7,
and begin trading around June 23, according to Reuters.
"It's certain that stock will receive over-subscription from
investors," said Kwok.
Song Feng, BOCOM's spokesman, declined to comment on the
IPO.
Louis Wong, director of Philips Securities, said he believed
that the market had already got over the poor 0.37 percent return
on BOCOM assets in 2004. He believes investors are now more
concerned about the growth potential of the Chinese banking
industry as the scale of the mainland economy increases.
HSBC's return on assets (ROA) last year stood at 1.02 percent,
while Hang Seng recorded 2.17 percent.
"As long as the corporate restructuring is complete, the
mainland banks will become very attractive for investors and
international financial institutions given the vast underdeveloped
banking market on the Chinese mainland," Kwok said.
Earlier speculation had suggested that this giant IPO would get
a poor response from investors given its thin ROA and upcoming IPOs
from other state-owned companies.
"Investors want banking exposure, but they will be selective
because there are more banks coming to market," Sam Ho, a senior
official with KDB Asia Ltd in Hong Kong, was quoted by Bloomberg as
saying on Tuesday.
For example, China
Construction Bank, which plans to raise between HK$5 billion
and HK$10 billion on the Hong Kong market, has set a timetable to
launch its IPO by November.
"The IPO, if we can realize it this year, should be in November
because December would be too late," Guo Shuqing, chairman of the
bank, was quoted by Reuters as saying Wednesday.
The number of foreign companies interested in buying strategic
stakes ahead of listing, according to Guo, has fallen to five or
six from around 10 previously.
(China Daily May 26, 2005)