Chongqing bank reopens door for Hong Kong listings

Bank of Chongqing aimed to raise US$591 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today in the first IPO of a Chinese bank in about three years, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bank is selling 707 million shares, 670 million of them new, in a price range of US$0.72 to $0.84, sources said. Another Chinese city-level lender, Huishang Bank, may seek to raise up to US$1.2 billion in Hong Kong in the coming weeks. Bank of Chongqing, which has been focused on micro-and small-enterprise lending, took in US$311.8 million in profits last year, up 29% from 2011.