Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) set the indicative price range for its upcoming mega-IPO at US$0.32-0.39 (HK$2.56-3.07), the South China Morning Post reported. The price is lower than analysts expected as China's largest bank by assets heads towards a US$19-billion offering, expected to be the largest ever. The new price range is between 1.96 and 2.23 times the bank's 2006 book value, lower than the original range set at 2.6 to 2.7 times which investors criticized as too high. "The sales pitch is only 'It's China's biggest bank'. Well, what does that mean exactly," one fund manager told the newspaper. ICBC will be the first Chinese bank to list simultaneously in the H- and A-share markets and the fifth to list overseas.
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