NewPostal Savings Bank of China to close sale of 15 per cent to foreign investors

State-owned Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC) is expected to soon close the sale of a 15 per cent stake mainly to foreign investors ahead of a planned up to US$20 billion IPO in Hong Kong in 2016, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The stake sale, which the sources said was worth $8 billion, indicates foreign demand for Chinese financial stocks remains resilient even as the economy slows.

It also comes after the triple listing of Japan Post Holdings and its two financial units, which raised $12 billion for the Japanese government.

“You will always find demand for these types of deals,” said one of the people with direct knowledge of the PSBC transaction who, like the others, declined to be named because details remain confidential. “Chinese financials are such an important part of the economy and the stock market.”

Citing unnamed sources, Thomson Reuters publication IFR had reported on Wednesday that UBS AG had put up $2 billion for the stake sale - the single largest investment - and placed some of the shares with buyers including Hong Kong tycoons.

Other investors in the group included Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, JPMorgan and the International Finance Corp (IFC), a unit of the World Bank, IFR added.