HONG KONG: Two strategic shareholders of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) yesterday sold down a combined 3.854 billion H-shares of the mainland lender, raising a combined $1.9 billion from the shares sale.

German insurer Allianz SE sold 3.216 billion ICBC H-shares, while US credit card firm American Express (AmEx) unloaded 638 million shares.

The two firms sold down their holdings in ICBC as soon as the expiration of the lockup on those shares expired yesterday.

The shares the firms sold represent half of what they own in ICBC.

"The overhang posed by speculations over possible stake selldowns by some of ICBC's strategic shareholders should be over for now. After all, the stakes were pretty small." said Kenny Tang, an executive director at Radford Securities.

Allianz and AmEx sold shares at HK$3.86 each, or a discount of 4 percent to ICBC's closing price of HK$4.02 on Monday.

Yesterday, ICBC's H-shares rose 2.5 percent higher to HK$4.12, outperforming the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which slipped 1.9 percent.

The move by Allianz and AmEx hardly surprised the market which has been speculating for weeks about the shares sale.

It came after similar sale of shares in mainland banks by several international financial institutions forced to recapitalize by the global financial crisis.

After yesterday's shares sale, Allianz still holds a 0.97 percent stake in ICBC, while AmEx retains a minuscule 0.2 percent. The lockup on the sale of those shares is due to end on Oct 20.

Last month, US investment bank Goldman Sachs, another strategic investors in ICBC, agreed to keep 80 percent of its almost 16.5 billion shares in ICBC for at least another year, easing concerns about added supply of stock.

On Monday, ICBC reported that its first-quarter profit increased 6.2 percent to 35.15 billion yuan on record credit growth and lower provisions for non-performing loans.

(HK Edition 04/29/2009 page16)