Shanghai Commercial in stake sale
Shanghai Commercial Bank plans to invite a strategic investor on to its share register as it prepares for its longer-term plan to float shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to a market source.
The bank is 20 per cent held by US-based Wells Fargo, 48 per cent by Generale and 32 per cent by offshore company Krinein.
A source said Wells Fargo had expressed its intention to keep its level of control intact.
The shares to be sold to the potential strategic investor are therefore likely to come from the other two shareholders.
He declined to confirm if Shanghai Industrial Holdings was a candidate on its list of investors to be invited, as rumours have recently suggested.
The bank recorded an after-tax profit of $944.22 million last year, up 10.4 per cent from the previous year.
At the end of last year it had $51.7 billion in assets, a capital adequacy ratio of 22 per cent and a liquidity ratio of 53 per cent.
