BEIJING, Sept. 8 -- China Merchants Bank (CMB), the mainland's sixth-largest lender, is expected to raise as much as 2.4 billion U.S. dollars through an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, the fourth mainland bank to get an H-share listing.

    "CMB is operating in a fully market-oriented way since its establishment," said the bank's chairman Qin Xiao yesterday, adding it would maintain its leadership in the retail banking and credit card business despite fierce competition.

    Qin made the comments at a video press conference yesterday to announce the details of the IPO and promote its shares to local investors.

    The bank has issued 6.5 million credit cards, accounting for about 30 percent of the mainland's credit card business.

    Considered by some fund managers and analysts as the mainland's best-managed bank, the lender plans to maintain its loan and asset growth at less than 20 percent to better contain the risk, Qin said.

    CMB operates 467 branches in more than 30 mainland cities, and plans to sell 2.2 billion H shares at a proposed range of between HK$7.3 (93.6 US cents) and HK$8.55 (US$1.1) apiece.

    The bank, already listed in Shanghai, has received a warm welcome its institutional tranche, which accounts for 90 per cent of the IPO for corporate investors, was 12 times covered on Monday, the first day it accepted subscriptions.

    The retail portion of CMB's IPO, earmarked for individual investors and accounting for 10 per cent of the total offering, will be open from tomorrow until next Wednesday.

    Its Hong Kong shares are scheduled to begin trading on September 22.

    China International Capital Corp, JP Morgan and UBS, the three sponsors of the deal, on average estimated the bank's earnings would jump 48 percent to 5.54 billion yuan (US$710.3 million) in 2006 and a further 36 percent in 2007.

    CMB's shares will attract at least HK$150 billion (US$19 billion) worth of retail funds, according to a median of four analysts surveyed by China Daily yesterday.

    The local market hasn't seen any big IPOs for more than two months after the US$9.7-billion float of Bank of China in June.

    "People have a pent-up demand for new shares," said Andes Cheng, associate director at South China Research.

    Analysts also said Hong Kong-traded shares in CMB's peers such as China Construction Bank (CCB) and Bank of China (BOC) could drop in the coming days as local investors sell off stock to buy CMB shares.

    CMB will be the fourth mainland bank to list in Hong Kong following Bank of Communications, CCB and BOC, as the mainland's financial sector reform makes progress.

    The mainland's top lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, will follow suit to launch a US$19-billion deal in the first simultaneous listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

    (Source: China Daily)