Minsheng Bank approved for HK listing

Oct. 26, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd<600016>, China's first privately owned lender, said in a statement on Friday that it has won mainland regulatory approval to launch H-share offering in Hong Kong.

According to the reply from the China Securities Regulatory Commission regarding the Hong Kong listing application, Minsheng Bank is approved to issue up to 3.82 billion H shares at the face value of RMB 1 apiece in Hong Kong. 

The total amount of H shares to be offered will account for not more than 15% of the company's enlarged capital.

Minsheng Bank is expected to raise over RMB 30 billion from the IPO, the largest on the mainboard of Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year.

Reportedly, the Listing Committee of HKEx will hold an IPO hearing for the Chinese lender as early as this week and the H-share offering will take place by the end of this year.  

The IPO, if successful, will make Minsheng Bank the seventh mainland lender to list on HKEx.

For the first three quarters of this year, Minsheng Bank reaped RMB 10.20 billion in net profit, representing a year-on-year growth of 18.11%. Its non-performing loan ratio fell to 0.82% at the end of September from 0.86% at the end of June.

A shares of Minsheng Bank rose 2.46% to close at RMB 7.90 on Friday.