China Everbright receives approval for $3bln Shanghai IPO

Everbright Bank may face big capital shortfall in the next three years without the IPO.

China Everbright Bank's plan to raise up to $2.9 billion in a Shanghai IPO has been approved by the securities regulator, two sources said, in what will be the latest Chinese bank to try and tap markets for funds when conditions are still favourable.

Everbright Bank, China's 11th biggest bank by assets, would sell up to 6.1 billion shares in the initial public offering, said the sources. Both had direct knowledge of the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission gave the nod to the IPO on Monday, the sources said.

This month, China witnessed the world's second-biggest IPO when Agricultural Bank of China completed its $19 billion dual-listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

"The Everbright Bank IPO is far smaller than Agbank's and fundraising pressure from the banking sector has largely been digested," said Victor Feng, analyst with Everbright Securities in Shanghai. "The IPO will have limited impact on the market."

View the full story in Reuters.

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