China's postal bank plans Shanghai listing, seeks to raise US$785m

[HONG KONG] State-owned Postal Savings Bank of China, the country's biggest lender by branches, said it was planning a Shanghai listing, seeking to raise around US$785 million.

The move follows its Hong Kong listing last year in which the bank raised US$7.4 billion - the world's biggest IPO since Alibaba's U.S. listing in 2014.

The bank plans to raise as much as 5.17 billion yuan (S$1.06 billion) in an issue that would consist of no more than 5.17 billion shares at par value of 1 yuan per share, it said in a stock exchange filing Monday night.

The offering would further optimise the bank's corporate governance structure and develop domestic and overseas financing platforms, it added.

The bank reported first-half net profit of 26.6 billion yuan, up 14.5 per cent year-on-year.

REUTERS