BIZCHINA / Center
BOC's IPO attracts HK citizens
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-18 14:45
Bank of China Limited (BOC), one of China's four biggest State-owned
commercial banks, started its Hong Kong public offering Thursday, and
Hong Kong citizens lined in queues in a number banks in Hong Kong for
getting application forms in the morning.
Some 3 million copies of the applications forms are prepared for local
banks and securities companies.
At a bank in Kowloon, hundreds of people lined in queues before the
bank's opening hour for fetching an application form.
In Central District's banking area, dozens of people lined up in each of
the banks there for taking application forms.
Various banks also offered loans at preferential interest rates for
citizens to apply new shares and banks are waving a "war" to attract
customers.
The successful listing of a number of Chinese mainland companies in the
past few months has already "fostered" many fans of the newly listing
Chinese mainland companies, as winning the lots of new shares.
The bank will offer a total of 25.57 billion H shares in its global
offering, including initially 1.28 billion H shares for the Hong Kong
public offering and 24.29 billion H shares for the international offering.
The offer price will not be higher than 3.00 HK dollars (0.38 US dollars)
per share and is expected not to be lower than 2.50 HK dollars (0.32 US
dollars). The final price will be determined on May 24, 2006.
Trading of the bank's H share is scheduled to commence on June 1 on the
main board of the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Limited. The lot size
is 1,000 shares.
BOC Chairman Xiao Gang said at a televised press conference on Wednesday
that "We are a leader in non-interest income and foreign exchange
business with strong product innovation capabilities. The overall listing
of the bank in Hong Kong is to open another exciting chapter of the
bank's hundred-year history."
Xiao said the net proceeds of the bank's global offering will be
approximately 68.07 billion HK dollars (8.73 billion US dollars) after
deducting the underwriting fees and estimated expenses payable by the
bank.
He said the bank intends to use the proceeds to strengthen its capital to
support its future business growth.
He said that the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong markets are the
foundations of the bank's development. "With the support of all our
customers, I am certain that Bank of China will further develop and
expand and create value for all our customers and shareholders."
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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