5 June : The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) announced its huge dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong, which could be the world’s largest-ever initial public offering, says a media report.
ABC, the biggest bank in China by customers, plans to sell as many as 22.24 billion A shares in its IPO in Shanghai and another 25.4 billion shares in Hong Kong.
The Beijing-based bank didn’t disclose its issue price on Friday, but earlier media reports indicated that it could net USD 30 billion to rank as the biggest IPO in the world, surpassing the USD 22 billion sale by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006, the ‘Shanghai Daily’ reported on Saturday.
Although ABC, with most of its business in the country’s rural areas, is less profitable than its state-owned rivals, Chairman Xiang Junbo is confident that investors will eye its 350 million customers as the central government aims to cut the gap between affluent cities and rural areas.
Xiang, previously the deputy governor of China’s central bank, still has to persuade investors of ABC’s prospects against concerns of a double-dip recession in the global economy amid the Greece debt crisis as well as worries of a domestic stock market slide and a correction in the housing market.
“The timing isn’t so good for the Agricultural Bank. Most of my investment colleagues are expecting the bank to give a reasonable price,” said an investment manager.