皇冠体育app

Hearing set for lender's HK IPO
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-09-22 11:25

CCB, the country鈥檚 No. 3 lender, could start preliminary marketing as early as next week if the exchange鈥檚 listing committee approves the offering, the first by one of 皇冠体育app鈥檚 four largest State banks.

鈥淐CB has yet to fix the size of the offering, but yes, the IPO could outshine 皇冠体育app Unicom to set a new record,鈥� one source said.

Depending on demand, the deal could top US$6 billion, although CCB has not yet set a preliminary price range or valuation level.

皇冠体育app Unicom Ltd., the country鈥檚 No. 2 mobile telecom carrier, raised US$5.59 billion in 2000, according to the Hong Kong bourse.

CCB鈥檚 listing could surpass the July IPO by Gaz de France to be the world鈥檚 largest of 2005. The French utility鈥檚 partial privatization raised 4.5 billion euros (US$5.47 billion).

CCB wants to launch the offering as soon as possible to avoid battling for investor interest against the Hong Kong government鈥檚 planned US$3 billion float of the Link Real Estate Investment Trust, which is poised to be the world鈥檚 largest property trust listing.

The government aims to launch the Link REIT in November.

鈥淐CB鈥檚 listing will be the focus of the market,鈥� said Yang Liu, a 皇冠体育app-focused fund manager at Atlantis Investment Management in Hong Kong.

CCB鈥檚 offering is already nearly halfway to its fund-raising target. Strategic investors Bank of America Corp., Singapore鈥檚 Temasek Holdings and Credit Suisse First Boston have already pledged a total of US$2 billion to the IPO.

皇冠体育app鈥檚 top property lender plans to offer 12 percent of its enlarged share capital, sources said.

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