China Minsheng Bank plans to issue convertible bonds later this year to fund further acquisitions following Monday’s announcement that it will purchase 9.9 per cent of San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings. According to state media, Minsheng’s USD200m UCBH deal – the first strategic investment by a mainland commercial bank in a U.S. bank – may also be followed by a Hong Kong listing in early 2008.
The Beijing-based bank, which is partly owned by Singapore's Temasek
Holdings and is China’s seventh-largest bank by market value, plans to
apply to Chinese regulators to issue RMB20 bn of convertible bonds to
raise funds for Chinese, and possibly overseas, acquisitions.
The company’s aggressive acquisitions strategy is already underway,
following its reported first half of 2007 net profits growth of 65.8
per cent. Last month, Minsheng Bank announced that it will pay RMB2.34
billion for a stake in Shaanxi International Trust & Investment
Corp, and is known to be keen on acquiring small city banks and rural
credit cooperative unions.
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