New | China policy bank raises US$7b in stake sale
In the run up to an expected listing next year, Postal Savings Bank of China sells a 17 per cent stake to international and domestic investors
Postal Savings Bank of China has sold a 17 per cent stake worth US$7 billion to 10 strategic investors including global and domestic firms such as JPMorgan Chase, Temasek Holdings and Alibaba Group.
The policy bank, which announced the private fund raising on Wednesday ahead on an expected initial public offering next year, has China’s largest branch network, a reach that finds its logo in towns and even villages void of other financial services.
The private placement valued Postal Savings Bank at about US$41 billion. Chinese state media reported in March that the bank was mulling a US$25 billion public offering.
China Life Insurance, UBS, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, China Telecommunications Corporation, DBS Group Holdings and the investment arm of the World Bank also bought into the Chinese bank.
JPMorgan said in a statement that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement and a securities purchase agreement with PSBC. The US bank said it would leverage retail, consumer and commercial banking franchises in the collaboration.
PSBC said the fundraising was China’s biggest-ever private placement.
