CITIC Bank IPO confirmed at US$5.4bn

Official confirmation came Monday that China CITIC Bank met market expectations by raising US$5.4 billion in its initial public offering, AFP reported. CITIC Bank, China's seventh-largest lender, is now responsible for the biggest IPO in the world so far this year. A total of 2.3 billion A-shares, priced at RMB5.80 (US$0.75), and 4.9 billion H-shares, priced at HK$5.86 (US$0.75), will begin trading Friday in Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively. It is the first simultaneous listing on the two exchanges since Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's world record US$21.9 billion IPO last year. Meanwhile, Chinese real estate developer Country Garden Holdings saw its stock rise 35% when it made its Hong Kong trading debut Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The value of the Guangdong-based company, which raised US$1.66 billion in its IPO, almost doubled from the US$8.2 billion estimate made by UBS, one of the underwriters of the listing.