Everbright ready to kick off US$2 b float

China Everbright Bank is to kick-start its US$2 billion Hong Kong float next week in its third attempt. The medium-sized Beijing lender's move comes on the back of a meaningful recovery in demand for new shares, people familiar with the deal said.

Everbright, which received its listing clearance from the Hong Kong stock exchange last month, will undergo an accelerated book building for a sale of 12 billion shares that could raise between US$1.8 billion and US$2 billion.

Bankers said Everbright's offering was another "tough deal", with persistent weakness in the company's Shanghai-traded shares and concern over mainland bank asset deterioration.

It was understood Everbright intended to price its long-planned H shares at a modest premium to its A shares, which are trading at a price-book of 0.87 times, a syndicate banker said.

Everbright's Shanghai shares are down 7.21 per cent this year, compared with a 3.66 per cent decline in the Shanghai Composite Index.

Everbright's non-performing loans rose 16.1 per cent to 8.8 billion yuan (HK$11.1 billion) in June from 7.6 billion yuan in December last year, while its non-performing loan ratio edged up six basis points to 0.8 per cent. Sources said Everbright's institutional book was well covered by a number of cornerstone and anchor investors and the deal launch was ready to be kicked off next week.