Chinese investment bank CICC launches Shanghai offering

[SHANGHAI] Hong Kong-listed China International Capital Corp (CICC) said on Monday it will conduct price consultation with investors this week ahead of a Shanghai listing, as the Chinese investment bank seeks fresh capital for expansion.

CICC plans to sell up to 458.59 million A-shares, or 9.5 per cent of its enlarged capital base, showed a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The offering could be worth roughly US$1 billion based on the latest price of CICC's Hong Kong-traded stock.

The secondary listing comes as China steps up restructuring its capital markets to fund economic growth and technological innovation amid heightened tension with the United States.

Meanwhile, Chinese brokerages face rising competition as the government fully opened the sector to foreign companies.

CICC said it will start preliminary price consultation on Wednesday and accept subscriptions from investors on Oct 20.

The firm, which is a lead underwriter in the planned initial public offering of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, in July more than trebled the number of shares on offer in its planned Shanghai offering.

The investment bank has hired Orient Securities and China Galaxy Securities as lead underwriters for the sale.

REUTERS