The Industrial Bank Co. Ltd has received approval for an initial public offering (IPO) from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

 

A notice released on the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission said that the Industrial Bank plans to issue 1.333 billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

 

Qiu Zhicheng, a bank industry analyst with Haitong Securities, estimated the issue price at 10 to 15 yuan. At 10 yuan, the Industrial Bank would collect 13.3 billion yuan from the IPO.

 

The Industrial Bank said funds raised from the IPO will be used to boost its capital adequacy ratio, strengthen its risk-prevention capability and profitability and support its business development.

 

The Industrial Bank, headquartered in Fuzhou, the capital city of East China's Fujian Province, is a joint venture controlled by the Fujian provincial government. The Hang Seng Bank owns nearly 16 percent of its shares.

 

The Bank, formerly named the Fujian Industrial Bank, was founded in 1998. By the end of June 2006, its capital adequacy ratio was 7.17 percent, lower than the eight percent set by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

 

BOC International (China) Limited will be the lead underwriter of the country's tenth listed commercial bank to launch an IPO, which will be the largest IPO by a company in Fujian province.

 

The bank's approval followed nine other commercial banks who went public on either home or overseas bourses, including the Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the China Construction Bank.

 

Unlike the "big four" state-owned commercial banks, the Industrial Bank is still developing. In the last three years, the bank has branched into derivative products, asset trusteeship, and investment banking.

 

Its compound annual growth rate of capital, deposits and loans were all above the industrial average. The company reported net income of 14.34 billion yuan in 2003, 17.66 billion yuan in 2004, and 24.65 billion yuan in 2005. Its compound annual growth rate reached 31.11 percent.

 

By the end of 2006 the bank's total assets exceeded 532.6 billion yuan, and it realized a net profit of 1.746 billion yuan during the first 6 months of 2006, earning 0.44 yuan per share.

 

The profit growth rate cannot keep up with business expansion, and so a public listing is needed to raise capital, said the company.

 

The bank's application was passed during the third meeting in 2007 of the Public Offering Review Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

 

In 2006, China saw more banks list on both domestic and foreign markets. The Bank of China issued A shares, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China issued A and H shares, quickly becoming major blue chips on the domestic securities market.

 

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has also become the largest listed bank in Asia and the fifth largest listed bank in the world.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2007)