Harbin Bank prices $1.1b IPO near bottom of range
China’s Harbin Bank is set to raise $1.1 billion from its Hong Kong IPO after pricing shares at the bottom of the indicative range. CITIC Capital is one of seven cornerstone investors in the offering.
Harbin Bank will sell its shares at HK$2.90 a share, after offering 3.02 billion shares at an indicative range of HK$2.89-3.33 apiece, according to IFR.
CITIC Capital agreed to commit HK$1.16 billion to the offering.
The other cornerstone investors are Fubon Life Insurance, China Fortune Finance Holding, Wah Tao International Fund, Chongqing Tian Tai Real Estate Development, Boom Win Holdings and Introwell.
They and CITIC invested around HK$3.98 billion between them.
Last week, the bank was said to have delayed taking orders for the offering amid growing concerns that news of China's escalating bad debt problem will spook investors. The bank was originally looking to go public on March 31 but may now wait until June.
Harbin Bank primarily operates in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, where it accounted for 11.5% of all banking assets as of December 2012.
The lender has 304 outlets, comprising 15 branches and 245 sub-branches, and then 24 village and township banks with 20 sub-branches. It claims to have industry leading expertise in lending to small and micro enterprises.
The bank reported an unaudited net profit of RMB3.35 billion ($540.3 million) for 2013, up from RMB2.86 billion in 2012.
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