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Biggest IPO in six years: China's ICBC tapping markets for $10 billion

26.2.06 | 15:10 By TheMarker and Reuters

Top Chinese lender The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has solicited bids from eight banks, for the right to arrange its $10 billion initial public offering, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Saturday.

Its Hong Kong offering would be the biggest in the world for six years, since Cingular Wireless raised $10.6 billion in April 2000.

Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, China International Capital Corp, and HSBC Holding were selected, the South China Morning Post quoted unnamed sources as saying.

The offering would make ICBC the third of China?s four biggest banks to float stock.

The paper said Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley was excluded, and so apparently was Citibank. Morgan Stanley, with its Chinese joint venture CICC, sponsored the $9.2 billion Hong Kong listing of China Construction Bank last year.

ICBC, which has said it hopes to sell shares to the public before the end of the year, has brought in strategic investors in preparation for the listing.

The bank agreed last month to sell stakes totalling $3.8 billion to Goldman Sachs, Germany's Allianz and American Express.

In August 2005, the Bank of China hired Goldman Sachs, UBS and its own investment banking division to handle a $6-8 billion flotation. China Construction Bank, the nation's third biggest, hired minority shareholders and China International Capital ahead of raising $9.2 billion in November.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/687412.html

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