Bank of China Rights Offer May Raise 60 Billion Yuan

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by ASusilovic, Jul 2, 2010.

  1. July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of China Ltd., Asia’s third- largest lender by market value, plans to raise as much as 60 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in a rights offer to replenish capital.

    The lender will sell 1.1 shares for every 10 held, or as many as 19.56 billion shares in Shanghai and 8.36 billion in Hong Kong, a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange showed today. Beijing-based Bank of China, which made more loans than any local rival last year, in June completed the sale of 40 billion yuan of six-year bonds that can be converted into shares.

    The new sale adds to as much as $45.6 billion in fundraising announced by China’s five biggest state-controlled banks after they extended record loans last year to support a government-led stimulus plan. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s largest lender by customers, is in the midst of a $20.1 billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

    A sale by Bank of China would “damage market sentiment and banking shares further because we’ve already been flooded by share offerings,” Tang Yayun, a Shanghai-based analyst at Northeast Securities Co., said before the announcement. “This is a surprise given that they just completed a bond sale.”

    http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a5Hzjdgl6HXU&pos=2

    There is a lot that China is doing right. The regulatos are forcing banks to replenish capital. Excellent policy move taking into consideration the global environment.