Postal Savings Bank to raise up to US$4.7 billion in secondary listing as Shanghai snares the world’s third-largest fundraising of 2019
- Postal Savings Bank of China plans to raise up to 32.71 billion yuan by selling between 5.17 billion and 5.95 billion A shares at 5.5 yuan each
- Subscription of the shares will be postponed to November 28 from November 7, according to a Hong Kong exchange filing
Postal Savings Bank of China, which operates the biggest branch network among the country’s state-owned lenders, said it has picked Shanghai for a secondary listing of its shares, in what would be the largest fundraising exercise on the mainland in more than four years.
The Beijing-based bank plans to raise up to 32.71 billion yuan (US$4.66 billion) through an issue of between 5.17 billion and up to 5.95 billion A shares at 5.5 yuan each, according to a stock exchange filing.
China’s Megvii considers delaying IPO on US trade blacklist concerns
Postal Savings Bank, with 168,000 employees on staff at the end of June, was established as a deposit-taking subsidiary of the country’s postal service and wasn’t licensed as a bank until 2007. It serves 600 million individual customers across a network of 40,000 branches in China, from the Tibetan city of Lhasa in the Himalayas to Beijing.
The bank held 9.1 trillion yuan of savings at the end of September and gave out 4.8 trillion yuan of loans to customers. Net profit rose 16 per cent to 54.29 billion yuan in the first nine months this year from a year earlier, according to its financial report. Nearly half of its customers are located in rural China away from the biggest cities.
China’s best-selling baby milk maker likely get solid bids in retail IPO
Postal Savings Bank will be the 14th Chinese lenders to tap investors in both the mainland and Hong Kong stock exchanges for capital. Net proceeds from its Shanghai offering will be used to strengthen its capital base and business development, according to its filing.
Subscription for the new shares has been postponed to November 28 from November 7, it said, without giving a reason.
There were 41 stock sales on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the first nine months this year, raising an equivalent of US$7.3 billion, according to data compiled by Refinitiv, making it the fourth best venue for IPOs this year. The bourse recorded 46 IPOs in 2018 with total proceeds of US$10.4 billion.