HSBC hires advisors

HSBC Holdings Plc, vying to be the first foreign company to sell shares in Shanghai, hired China International Capital Corp and CITIC Securities Co to advise on an offering, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Europe's biggest bank by value may raise $5 billion in the second half of 2010, one of the people said, declining to be identified because talks are private. HSBC's Hong Kong-based spokesman David Hall said advisors have been chosen, without elaborating.

A share sale may help HSBC increase yuan loans and expand what is already the biggest network of any foreign bank in the mainland.