(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-09-10 19:47

Bank of Beijing, the third Chinese city-level commercial bank to go public, will be able to raise as much as 15 billion yuan (US$2 billion) for its public offering in Shanghai, Monday's Shanghai Securities News reports.

Earlier reports said it hoped to raise about 13 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion) on the domestic equity market.

The local bank in Beijing said the price range for its initial public offering (IPO) would be set between 11.5 yuan (US$1.5) and 12.5 yuan (US$1.7) for each share in a statement posted on Sunday to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The bank would sell 1.2 billion A shares on the Shanghai bourse, which would account for 19.3 percent of its enlarged capital after the Shanghai listing.

Analysts said most institutions would subscribe to the offering at the upper limit of 12.5 yuan (US$1.7) each, to make it the largest IPO ever for Chinese city-level commercial banks, of which there are a total of 114 in operation.

Bank of Nanjing and Bank of Ningbo, the first two Chinese city-level commercial banks listed on the domestic equity market, raised a combined 11.1 billion yuan (US$1.46 billion) in July.

The share price of Bank of Nanjing leapfrogged to close at 22.08 yuan (US$2.9) each share last Friday, which more than doubled its IPO price of 11 yuan (US$1.5). Bank of Ningbo almost tripled its IPO price to close the previous trading day at 26.63 yuan (US$3.5) each.

Bank of Beijing said the raised funds would be used to boost its capital adequacy ratio and its capabilities of risk control and profit making.

Bank of Beijing reported a net profit of 550 million yuan (US$72.4 million) in the first quarter this year with assets totaling 263.98 billion yuan (US$34.7 billion).

Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.23 percent at the end of March, with the non-performing loan ratio at 3.34 percent.

The Dutch banking and insurance group ING is the largest shareholder of the bank with a 19.9 percent stake, while the International Financial Corporation holds five percent as the fourth largest shareholder.