China Everbright Bank (CEB) has scheduled a domestic listing in the first half of 2008 and identified three securities companies as the underwriters for its initial public offering (IPO), the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported on Saturday.

"CEB will not miss the golden opportunity to be listed, as the current valuation of Chinese-funded banks is comparatively satisfactory. The bank will raise more than 20 billion yuan (2.74 billion U.S. dollars) through an IPO on the domestic A-share market and then list in Hongkong," a securities dealer told the newspaper.

The three underwriters will reportedly be China Jianyin Investment Securities, Shenyin & Wangguo Securities Co. Ltd. and Golaxy Securities Company Ltd.

The report said that CEB hadn't disclosed the IPO price range.

Last month, CEB received a 20-billion-yuan capital injection from the state-owned Central Huijin Investment Co., but that infusion didn't fully resolve the bank's bad debt situation.

"The bank plans to issue four to five billion yuan worth of sub-prime bonds in the near future to further supplement its capital," according to an insider at the Beijing headquarters of CEB, quoted in the newspaper.

According to an audit report by Ernst & Young, as of Dec. 31, 2006, CEB had a net asset value of 73 million yuan, with total share capital of 8.2 billion shares, or net assets per share of 0.0089 yuan.

CEB made a profit of 4 billion yuan in the first eight months of this year, raising its net asset value per share to one-half yuan.

According to the source at the Beijing headquarters, "CEB is negotiating with overseas strategic investors and a formal contract is expected to be signed in the first quarter of next year." The source also told the newspaper that Standard Chartered had withdrawn from negotiations.

JP Morgan Chase, the Government of Singapore Investment Co. (GIC) and Mideast sovereign wealth funds were left as the most likely strategic investors.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2007)