UPDATE 1-China CSRC approves Minsheng HK IPO plan - source

(Adds details and share price)

HONG KONG Aug 18 (Reuters) - China Minsheng Banking Corp (600016.SS), China's first listed non-state lender, has received approval from China's securities watchdog for its $2.93 billion listing in Hong Kong, a source close to the bank said on Tuesday.

"The bank will file an application to the Hong Kong stock exchange as soon as this week," the source told Reuters.

The bank expects to complete the IPO by the end of 2009 and has appointed UBS AG (UBS.N) (UBSN.VX) and BOC International, the investment banking arm of Bank of China (3988.HK) (600198.SS), as sponsors of the deal, the source said.

This move came after the Beijing-based lender failed to launch its Hong Kong IPO at least twice in the past few years due mainly to unfavourable market conditions. Minsheng has said the proposed offering would raise an estimated 20 billion yuan ($2.93 billion) to beef up its core capital adequacy ratio to about 9 percent from 6 percent.

In June, shareholders of Minsheng approved the bank's plan for a Hong Kong share offering. [ID:nPEK103981]

The Shanghai-listed lender expects to issue up to 15 percent of its enlarged capital, or up to 3.32 billion shares. There will be a greenshoe option to increase the issue by an additional 15 percent. [ID:nSHA35292]

By 0545 GMT, Minsheng Bank's shares traded up 0.14 percent to 7.15 yuan in Shanghai, beating the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index's .SSEC 0.19 percent fall. (Reporting by Alison Lui; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)