BIZCHINA> Direct Investment
Huaxia Bank gets Ok for $1.7b placement
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-31 16:37

Huaxia Bank Co Ltd, a medium-sized Chinese commercial bank in which Deutsche Bank AG is a major shareholder, has received approval for a private share placement, the bank said on Wednesday.

Huaxia has received the go-ahead from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a placement of ordinary A-shares, the bank said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

In March, Huaxia said it was issuing 11.56 billion yuan ($1.69 billion) worth of new shares with three institutions in a private placement.

Germany's Deutsche Bank, Chinese steelmaker Shougang Group and power grid operator State Grid Corp will subscribe to the shares in the private placement, which is aimed at boosting the bank's core capital, Huaxia said.

The shares will be priced at 90 percent of the average price over the 20 trading days up until March 18, the bank had said. Huaxia's shares closed at 14.84 yuan on March 17.

Huaxia's shares closed up nearly 3 percent at 11.35 yuan on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the bank estimated that net profit grew at least 90 percent in the first half of 2008. In the first half of last year, it made a net profit of 1.01 billion yuan.

In the first quarter of this year, profit rose 80.4 percent.


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