Minsheng shareholders approve HK IPO

China Minsheng Bank (CMB) shareholders on Monday approved a plan to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported. The listing would occur in the fourth quarter of 2009, and is expected to raise as much as US$3.8 billion in fresh capital. the mid-sized lender hopes to issue 3.32 billion new shares, or 15% of the bank’s enlarged share capital. CMB is already listed on the Shanghai stock exchange. Liu Minwen, general manager of the bank’s capital financing office, said CMB is US$2.93 billion short of meeting the government’s 9% capital adequacy ratio. The bank also said it is in talks to introduce a new foreign strategic investor.