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China Construction Bank attracts record funds in Shanghai IPO
2007-09-18
China Construction Bank, one of the nation's top lenders, has attracted a record 2.26 trillion yuan (297 billion dollars) of subscription funds in a Shanghai initial public offering (IPO), state press said Tuesday. The offering met with strong demand due to a positive outlook for the bank combined with ample liquidity, the China Securities Journal reported, citing analysts. The size of funds frozen for subscription exceeded the previous record set by Bank of Beijing, which attracted 1.89 trillion yuan in an offering earlier this month, the report said. China Construction Bank, already listed in Hong Kong, plans to offer up to nine billion yuan-denominated A shares and set an indicative range of 6.15 yuan to 6.45 yuan for the offering last Thursday. This meant it could raise up to 58.10 billion yuan in IPO and become the largest domestic offering, exceeding Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which raised 46.64 billion yuan last October in the domestic market in a simultaneous listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Chinese authorities have been encouraging more domestic share issues to increase supply of stocks and mop up excessive liquidity in its booming capital market, where the key index has surged more than 100 percent this year. Earlier this week, the securities regulator approved China's top coal producer Shenhua Energy's plan to issue up to 1.8 billion A shares, which is likely to be another major offer.
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