Chinese private lending group China Minsheng Banking Corporation is to raise up to $3.1 billion in a share sale. The bank said that it planned to sell two billion shares to a small number of institutional investors in order to strengthen its core capital.
No more than ten institutional investors will be involved, the bank said, with each required to buy no fewer than 100 million shares each, and no more than 600 million.
Initially, Minsheng had unveiled plans to sell up to 3.5 billion shares, but cut that to two billion following a surge in share prices in response to the news.
The bank recently reported a 40 per cent increase in net profits for 2006.