Postal Savings Bank stake sale raises $7bn ahead of IPO

State-owned Postal Savings Bank of China has raised RMB45 billion (US$7 billion) through the sale of a 17% stake in itself ahead of a planned initial public offering, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement from the bank. The stake sale drew 10 firms including UBS Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co. at a time when Chinese lenders are under pressure from rising defaults and diminishing profit margins. Figures from the China Banking Regulatory Commission showed the bank’s bad-debt ratio was lower than any of the country’s listed lenders at the end of 2014. It had RMB6.8 trillion of assets at the end of September, which would make it China’s sixth-largest bank.