China Construction Bank to issue A shares

    BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Shareholders of China Construction Bank (CCB), one of China's four largest state-owned commercial banks, approved a plan for the bank's domestic listing, the bank said in a statement Friday.

    The bank will float no more than nine billion A shares and it will send applications to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the statement said.

    Based on experience, the CCB can finish the process as early as September, industry insiders said.

    The CCB will use raised money to supplement its capital, the statement said.

    By the end of 2006, the bank's capital adequacy ratio hit 12.11 percent while non-performing loans ratio was 3.29 percent.

    The bank has invited China International Capital Company, CITIC Securities and Cinda Assets Management Company to be its underwriters and advisors of A-share initial public offering (IPO).

    The statement gives no details on the IPO price or location of listing.

    CCB was listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange in October 2005. It issued 26.486 billion shares on Hong Kong stock market and raised 9.2 billion U.S. dollars.