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Bank of China, the nation's second-biggest lender, may raise as much as US$8 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering in June after shelving plans for a simultaneous sale in Shanghai, people involved in the sale said.

 

The Beijing-based lender on Tuesday filed an application to the Hong Kong stock exchange, paving the way for China's second-biggest IPO, the people said, asking not to be identified before the sale is complete. The bank hasn't filed a request to sell shares in the mainland, they said.

 

Bank of China may sell 10 percent of its total shares in the overseas IPO, raising between US$6 billion and US$8 billion, and will later consider selling stock in the mainland, the people said. The bank also plans to include its Hong Kong banking operations in the group listing, they said.

 

Wang Zhaowen, a Beijing-based spokesman of Bank of China, declined to comment.

 

The Chinese lender has already sold stakes to investors including Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and Merrill Lynch & Co as it boosts capital to increase lending. China's economy grew 9.9 percent last year, overtaking the UK as the world's fourth largest, and household savings climbed to US$1.84 trillion at the end of January.

 

"If you're looking at the Chinese banking market, it's underdeveloped, offering good opportunities for growth," said Gary Dugan, chief investment officer of Barclays Wealth Management, which oversees 80 billion pounds (US$139 billion) of investments.

 

The government has prepared three of its four biggest State-owned banks for share sales by cutting bad loans, the result of five decades of lending to unprofitable government companies, with US$60 billion of bailouts since December 2003.

 

China Construction Bank, the nation's third-biggest lender, raised US$9.2 billion in Hong Kong in October in the world's largest IPO in four years. Bank of Communications, China's fifth-largest lender, raised US$2.17 billion in its Hong Kong share sale.

 

Selling shares overseas would help Bank of China boost its reputation and investor base, allowing it to raise more funds from global investors in the future. The State-owned lender has been offloading bad loans and boosting capital since 2003 in preparation for an overseas share sale, part of government plans to prepare the industry for increased foreign competition, starting at the end of this year.

 

Bank of China needs funds to sustain growth as China's consumer lending, including mortgages and auto loans, increased by 199.6 billion yuan (US$24.8 billion) in 2005, taking the outstanding amount to 2.2 trillion yuan as of December 31.

 

China's securities regulators stopped new issuance in May last year to avoid a flood of equity as companies pursued plans to make more than US$200 billion of mostly State-owned stock tradable.

 

(China Daily March 2, 2006)