Evergrande said to hire banks for US$600 million share-sale plan

[HONG KONG] Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd, China's third-biggest developer by assets, hired banks for a planned share sale that could raise at least US$600 million, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Citic CLSA Securities, Credit Suisse Group AG and Haitong Securities Co. are working on the offering, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The sale could start as soon as Thursday in Hong Kong, they said.

Evergrande is raising funds as the Chinese real-estate market starts to recover and the nation's stock market surges to a seven-year high. Developers in greater China have announced US$20 billion of share sales since Jan 1, already more than the amount of offerings completed in any previous year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

A representative for Evergrande wouldn't comment when reached by phone. IFR reported earlier Thursday that Evergrande is weighing a share sale of about US$600 million, citing unidentified people.

BLOOMBERG