China Construction Bank gains in HK debut
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-10-27 16:41

While Chinese banks are flush with $1.5 trillion in retail deposits, they are plagued by the legacy of decades of state-directed lending that left the industry with 1.6 trillion yuan in bad loans as of the end of June.

CCB is the healthiest of China's big four banks, with a non-performing-loan ratio that has fallen to 3.9 percent, thanks in part to $25 billion in bailouts from Beijing.

Overseas financial players, lured by an economy growing at nearly 10 percent a year, have this year spent billions of dollars to buy stakes in Chinese lenders in order to gain a foothold in the sector.

CCB, China's top property lender, this year attracted about $5.5 billion from Bank of America and Singapore government investment agency Temasek Holdings, which hold respective stakes of 8.67 percent and 6 percent.

The Beijing-based lender sold 26.486 billion shares, or 12 percent of its share capital, in its IPO sponsored by Morgan Stanley, China International Capital Corp and Credit Suisse First Boston.