China Everbright mulls Shanghai listing before Olympics

Medium-sized China Everbright Bank said on Tuesday it is eying an initial public offering in Shanghai by early August.

The lender will list about 10% of its enlarged capital base in a bid to narrow the gap with domestic counterparts, said Xie Zhichun, vice presibent of Everbright Bank, adding that the bank postponed the plan to introduce strategic investors ahead of IPO as the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis make it difficult to assess the financial health of potential partners.

Everbright Bank, which shelved Hong Kong listing plan amid volatility in the stock market, appointed China International Capital Corp Ltd, China Jianyin Investment Securities and Shenyin & Wanguo Securities as underwriters for its Shanghai IPO.

Furthermore, it plans to issue as much as RMB 8 billion subordinated bonds by the end of April to replenish additional capital.