From the Financial Times:
Bank of China raises $9.7bn on strong demand
Bank of China on Wednesday raised US$9.7bn after it priced its heavily-subscribed initial public offering near the top end of an indicative price range.
People close to the listing said the bank, one of China’s “big four” lenders, sold its shares at HK$2.95 each, just 5 cents below the top of the range and representing 2.18 times the company’s 2006 book value.
Despite the fact that everyone knows China’s state-owned banks are wobbly and burdened with numerous non-performing loans, it seems that investors have confidence in the Bank of China.
With good reason: the Chinese government would probably give a certain island away sooner than let the Bank of China collapse. A possibility that seems more remote now that their coffers have swelled by an amount of money greater than the GDP of a small country.