Online subscription of IPO (initial public offering) shares of
the Industrial Bank, China's tenth largest, started on Tuesday.
The bank announced that the IPO shares will be priced between 15
to 15.98 yuan.
The bank has received approval from the China Securities
Regulatory Commission to issue 1.001 billion Renminbi-denominated
A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which is expected to raise
close to 16 billion yuan.
The funds will be used to boost its capital adequacy ratio,
strengthen its risk prevention capability and profitability and
support its business development, according to bank sources.
Listing on the stock market will enhance modernization of the
bank's management and business operation of the bank and accelerate
its development into a modern commercial bank, said GaoJianping,
the banks' chairman.
The Industrial Bank, headquartered in Fuzhou, the capital city
of East China's Fujian province, is a joint venture controlled by
the Fujian provincial government and the Hang Seng Bank.
The Bank, formerly named the Fujian Industrial Bank, was founded
in 1998. By the end of June 2006, its capital adequacy ratio was
7.17 percent, lower than the eight percent set by the China Banking
Regulatory Commission.
BOC International (China) Limited is the lead underwriter of the
country's tenth listed commercial bank to launch an IPO, which will
be the largest IPO by a Fujian province company.
Over the last three years, the Industrial Bank has branched out
into derivatives, asset trusteeship, and investment banking.
Its compound annual growth rate of capital, deposits and loans
were all above the industrial average. The company reported net
income of 14.34 billion yuan in 2003, 17.66 billion yuan in 2004,
and 24.65 billion yuan in 2005. Its compound annual growth rate
reached 31.11 percent.
By the end of 2006 the bank's total assets exceeded 532.6
billion yuan.
The profit growth rate is not enough to fuel planned expansion,
making a public listing necessary to raise required capital, said
the company.
In 2006, China saw more banks list on both domestic and foreign
markets. The Bank of China issued A shares, the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China issued A and H shares, quickly becoming
major blue chips on the domestic securities market.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is now the largest
listed bank in Asia and the fifth largest in the world.
(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2007)