CITIC Group ups cash portion of offer for CIFH

HONG KONG Aug 28 (Reuters) - CITIC International Financial Holdings Ltd (0183.HK) (CIFH) said its major shareholder, CITIC Group, had sweetened its offer to privatise the Hong Kong-listed company, boosting the cash portion by 48 percent.

CITIC Group would raise the cash portion of its offer for CIFH to HK$2.16 per share plus one China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd (0998.HK) H share for each CIFH share, CIFH said in a statement late on Wednesday.

CITIC Group originally offered one CNCB H share plus HK$1.46 cash for each CIFH share.

For full statement please see here

In June, Chinese state-owned CITIC Group offered to buy its small Hong Kong-listed arm CIFH for $1.4 billion as part of an earlier announced deal that would boost Spanish bank BBCA's (BBVA.MC) toehold in fast-growing Asia. (US$1=HK$7.8) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; editing by Jonathan Hopfner)