Everbright Bank gets green light for Hong Kong IPO

China Everbright Bank (601818.SH) has received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to sell as many as 12 billion shares in a Hong Kong initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported. Everbright Bank in February stated that it will sell up to 10.5 billion shares in the Hong Kong deal, with an option to allot another 1.5 billion shares to investors if there is sufficient demand. Everbright has said it will use the IPO proceeds to increase its core capital base, making it the latest midsized Chinese lender to repeatedly tap the capital markets amid government tightening efforts. China Minsheng Banking Corp (600016.SH, 1988.HK), which raised US$4 billion in a Hong Kong IPO in 2009, announced plans in January to raise as much as US$3.3 billion from the sale of new Shanghai-listed shares.