China's AgBank to issue $12.8bn in preferred shares

Agricultural Bank of China (1288.HKG, 601288.SHA) aims to issue US$12.8 billion (RMB80 billion) in preferred stock, Bloomberg reported, citing a Thursday statement by the lender to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The board of the bank, the nation’s third-largest, approved a plan to sell up to 800 million preferred shares through private transactions on the mainland. The offer would be the country’s biggest sale of preferred stock since regulators launched a trial program two months ago allowing companies to issue the securities, and would bolster the bank’s capital position, which is the weakest among China’s top five lenders.