Huaxia Busy Preparing for IPOHuaxia Bank, one of China's 10 shareholding banks, is speeding up its preparations for domestic public listing within the year, a senior bank official said on Saturday."Listing preparation is a priority this year," said Huaxia Bank president Duan Xiaoxing at a conference over the weekend. The bank has already filed an application for an initial public offering (IPO) of A shares to securities regulators and is waiting for final approval, Duan said. The offering has been initially sized at around 400 million shares and is expected to raise 4 billion yuan (US$481 million) in funds for the bank to supplement its capital and fund the opening of more branches both at home and abroad, insiders said. Another bank official, who declined to be named, said the bank would try to realize the listing in the middle of this year, possibly in June or July. If approved, it will be the fourth bank in China to be listed domestically, following the Minsheng Bank IPO last December. "Public listing will improve our asset adequacy and spur us into improving our management," said Duan. To prepare for the listing, the bank is undergoing corporate restructuring and is enhancing its transparency. It has also asked the public to offer their opinions on its operations and is trying to improve profitability. Established in 1992 in Beijing, Huaxia Bank boasted total assets of 95.3 billion yuan (US$11.5 billion) by the end of last year and realized profits of 720 million yuan (US$86.7 million) within the year, up 55 per cent and 40 per cent respectively year-on-year. Its outstanding deposits stood at 89 billion yuan (US$10.7 billion). "We have a target asset scale of 128 billion yuan (US$15.4 billion) and deposits of 111 billion yuan (US$13.4 billion) by the end of this year," according to Duan. The bank also plans to reduce the amount of bad assets and further upgrade services in individual loans, online banking and bank card businesses this year, said Duan. Presently, the bank's bad debt ratio is 4.86 per cent, much lower than the average level amongst commercial banks within the country, bank sources said. The bank will also strengthen its ties with other financial institutions. It clinched partnerships with eight domestic insurers and a batch of overseas banks including the Bank of East Asia, Standard Chartered and CITIC Ka Wah Bank last year to co-operate in account transactions, interbank loans and technical support. Source: China Daily |
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