Money

ABC confirms prices Shanghai IPO at top of range

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-08 09:20

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) said on Wednesday it was pricing its Shanghai initial public offering at the top of an indicated range, confirming what sources told Reuters a day earlier.

It also said it would exercise an option to expand its Shanghai share offering by 15 percent, confirming a Reuters report earlier on Wednesday.

ABC will sell 25.57 billion yuan-denominated A-shares at 2.68 yuan (40 cents) apiece, at the top of the 2.52-2.68 yuan range, the Beijing-based lender said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

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That means ABC will raise 68.5 billion yuan ($10.1 billion) in Shanghai, the biggest offering on that exchange ever.

If additional shares are similarly sold in Hong Kong, the dual Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO would swell to $22 billion, the world's largest ever.

ABC, the last of China's "big four" State banks to go public, is selling shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong to replenish capital and drive growth.

ABC said it would sell 40 percent of the Shanghai offering to 27 strategic investors, and the remaining shares to other institutional and retail investors.

The strategic investors include China Life Insurance Co and Anshan Iron and Steel Group, parent of listed Angang Steel Co, as well as China State Construction Engineering Co, it said.

The Shanghai portion of the IPO was more than 10 times oversubscribed, including the greenshoe option, it said.