Minsheng Bank gets HKEx approval for HK listing

Oct. 30, 2009 (China Knowledge) - China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd<600016>, China's first privately-owned lender, yesterday obtained approval from the Listing Committee of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to launch an initial public offering on the bourse, said insiders from the Chinese lender, sources reported.

Minsheng Bank is expected to raise more than HK$30 billion by floating up to 3.82 billion H shares via the IPO, which will be the largest on the mainboard of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year.

The Beijing-based lender plans start its pre-marketing for the H-share offering on Nov. 2 and to conduct a road show on Nov. 9. The listing is scheduled for Nov. 26, said the insiders.

China International Capital Corp and UBS AG have been hired as lead book runners for the listing.

The medium-sized bank said earlier that the proceeds from the IPO will be able to support its business growth for the next three years and will boost its capital adequacy ratio. Market analysts expect that the lender's core capital adequacy ratio will rise to more than 8.5% after the IPO.

In the first three quarters of this year, Minsheng Bank's net profit was RMB 10.20 billion, up 18.11% year on year, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.