Center

Bank begins IPO roadshow

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-16 10:10

Proceeds from the IPO will mainly be used to replenish the bank's core assets and expand its networks, it said.

And the bank will use capital raised in the market to build and upgrade information systems and buyfixed assets, it added.

The Industrial Bank, which is nearly 16 percent-owned byHong Kong'sHang Seng Bank, had total assets of 532.2 billion yuan by the end of 2006.

According to British magazine The Banker, the Industrial Bank was ranked 10th among China's top 100 banks in terms of total assets and average ratio of profit to assets.

It chalked up a net profit of 1.74 billion yuan in the first half of last year.

Its net profit grew by an average 30 percent annually from 2003 to 2005.

"The robust growth is mainly due to the growth of two important engines the loans business and investment in bonds," the Fujian-based bank said.

The bank's non-performing loans stood at 2.01 percent by the end of 2005, it said.

Its capital adequacy ratio was 8.18 percent at the end of 2005. BOC International (China) Limited is the mainunderwriterfor the IPO.

(China Daily 01/16/2007 page14)