Standard Chartered gauges market

Advisers on Standard Chartered Bank's secondary listing in Hong Kong have begun sounding out investor sentiment towards the proposed new share issue.

However, sources close to the deal said it was 'way too early' to make judgments.

The listing debut remains set for October 18 - but yesterday Standard Chartered repeated that this remained subject to market conditions.

'On August 1 we announced our intention to list our shares in Hong Kong in [the fourth quarter], subject to regulatory approval and market conditions,' London-based official Tim Halford said.

'Our position has not changed and we are proceeding on the basis that the listing will go ahead as planned.

'As has always been the case, a final meeting will be held to agree the proposed timing and final shape of the listing in the light of market conditions.'

This meant the October 18 date remained on the table for the moment but would be subject to information gathered during the pre-marketing exercise and also market conditions closer to the proposed date.

The bank has earmarked an issue of 5 per cent of its existing capital, with a minimum of 10 per cent of the issue for retail investors - though the retail tranche could be raised to 15 per cent depending on demand.

At a briefing of distributors it emerged the issue was likely to be priced at a 2 per cent discount to its prevailing London price.

Assuming a targeted issue of 56.42 million shares and based on a prevailing share price of about 654 pence, the new shares could be priced at about HK$73 and would raise about HK$4.19 billion.

Before the latest sell-off of bank stocks, Standard Chartered was trading at HK$97 on September 6, when the issue might have raised HK$5.5 billion.

At its year-to-date high of HK$112.8 on January 30, an equivalent issue would have raised HK$6.36 billion.

Meanwhile, the Bank of China was not responding to unsourced speculation published in several Chinese-language newspapers yesterday that it had decided to postpone its listing.

According to the reports - described as being without any foundation by someone close to the deal - the Bank of China had originally set March 7 for a share debut, but was putting it back.