BOC says no to Shanghai

Bank of China will only list shares in Hong Kong, having rejected plans for a simultaneous initial public offering in Shanghai, Bloomberg reported, citing people involved in the sale. Analysts said the bank, which filed an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Tuesday, had discarded the Shanghai option as it would delay the offering. �Putting the dual-listing plan on hold will help speed up the overseas IPO, as the company probably wants to get the sale done sooner rather than later,� said Sam Ho, a fund manager at KDB Asia in Hong Kong. BOC is expected to sell around 10% of its shares in the overseas IPO, raising US$6-8 billion, with mainland stock sales likely to follow later. Bank of China said it had hired Goldman Sachs Group, UBS and Bank of China International to arrange the IPO.