The Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), one of the largest consumer banks in China, will issue 12.1 billion new shares at HK$4.76 each on the Hong Kong Stock exchange, raising .4 billion upon listing.
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The Postal Savings Bank of China, founded in 2007, has over 40,000 branches operating across China, the biggest distribution network in the country’s banking sector.
PSBC priced 12.1 billion new shares at HK$4.76 each, after marketing the offering between HK$4.68 and HK$5.18 per share, people with direct knowledge of the deal said on Wednesday. Shares should begin trading next week for the company, which had $25 billion in sales and $5.2 billion in profits past year.
It is the world’s biggest IPO since e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd went public in 2014 in a record US$25 billion deal. Postal Savings Bank would have a market value of $US49.5 billion, more than Deutsche Bank but less than USA banks like Goldman Sachs Group.
They declined to be identified because details of the pricing have not been officially announced. “Chinese banks are increasing competing online; the value of having an extensive brick and mortar branch network has been diminished significantly compared with 10 years ago”, Li said.
Large investments by cornerstone investors hurt liquidity for IPOs once the shares start trading, as the stock is locked up for a minimum of six months.
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The price range for the share offer valued the lender at 1 to 1.1 times its net assets as of the end of March.
