2.2 shares for every 10 existing shares

China Merchants Bank Co, the nation's sixth-largest lender, plans to raise as much as 35 billion yuan ($5.4 billion) in a rights offer to shareholders on the mainland and Hong Kong.

The company, based in Shenzhen, will offer 2.2 shares for every 10 existing shares held by investors, according to a statement to the city's stock exchange issued after market hours.

Chinese banks have been raising capital to meet higher capital adequacy requirements announced by the nation's banking regulator in April. Merchants Bank may need to raise new capital of as much as 25 billion yuan in order to increase its core capital ratio to 10 percent, MF Global Equities Research analyst Steven Chan wrote in a research note April 1.

"The bank's core capital adequacy ratio is substantially lower than the new regulatory minimum," the lender said a Chinese-language statement e-mailed on Monday. Merchants Bank reported a capital adequacy ratio of 10.9 percent at the end of March and core capital adequacy ratio of 7.7 percent, according to the statement.

The bank's outstanding subordinated debt has already exceeded the limit set by the regulatory commission, said the lender. "There's no room for further subordinated debt offerings, leaving share sales the only viable option."

The China Banking Regulatory Commission said in April it would raise the minimum capital adequacy requirement for "non-systematically important banks" to 10.5 percent from 8 percent, the statement said. Lenders' minimum core capital adequacy requirement was more than doubled to 8.5 percent from 4 percent.

Merchants Bank shares in Shanghai closed 0.23 percent lower at 12.98 yuan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg

(HK Edition 07/19/2011 page2)