CITIC hires firms ahead of IPO

The nation's seventh-largest lender, China CITIC Bank, has hired Citigroup and HSBC Holdings to help sell up to US$2 billion in stock in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported. Beijing-based CITIC also hired Lehman Brothers Holdings, China International Capital and CITIC Securities. JP Morgan Chase was hired as financial adviser. CITIC is the nation's largest state-run investment company. It needs the funds to deal with a capital shortfall and compete with the biggest state lenders and foreign banks in the face of growing personal incomes and the associated increase in demand for personal banking services. China CITIC Bank was formed in 1987 and focuses on retail banking. It has grown 20% annually over the last three years.