New | China’s Everbright Bank issues 20 billion yuan in preference shares

China Everbright Bank has completed a 20 billion yuan (HK$25 billion) domestic issuance of preference shares after gaining regulatory approval last month.

The mid-tier bank sold the hybrid securities to 18 subscribers, it said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The issuance of the shares was the first tranche of preference shares the bank has issued. The China Regulatory Banking Commission in June gave Everbright permission to issue up to 30 billion yuan in preference shares within a 24 month period.

Everbright is the latest Chinese bank to issue hybrid securities over the past year. Fitch Ratings estimated that China’s banks would lead the world in preference share issuance in the first half of 2015.