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Bloomberg
Postal Savings Bank of China Co is poised for the country’s biggest initial public offering since 2015.
The Beijing-based lender, which is already listed in Hong Kong, plans to raise 28.4 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) in what would be the world’s third-largest listing this year behind Uber Technologies Inc’s $8.1 billion share sale in May.
One of China’s largest state-owned lenders, Postal Bank plans to issue 5.17 billion A-shares at 5.5 yuan per share, according to Shanghai stock exchange filing which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report.
If the bank fully exercises an over-allotment option of up to 776 million shares, the fundraising size may reach as much as 32.7 billion yuan, surpassing Guotai Junan Securities Co’s 30 billion yuan offering in 2015.
In doing so it would become the largest A-share listing since Agricultural Bank of China Ltd’s 68.5 billion yuan offering in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The country’s banks are boosting capital at a record pace, mostly through debt sales, to beef up financial strength as they grapple with rising bad debt.
Policy makers have also called on lenders to help revive its economic growth and increase loans to China’s cash-starved non-state sector, which would see them take on more risk. China’s equity financing market is heading to the first increase since 2016.