Minsheng Bank sells Haitong stake for $799 million

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China Minsheng Bank Corp (600016.SS), the country's first listed non-state lender, said on Thursday it had sold its entire holdings in Haitong Securities Co (600837.SS) for an estimated 5.46 billion yuan ($799 million), locking in profit.

Minsheng had sold 381 million shares of Haitong, China's third-biggest brokerage, at an average price of 14.33 yuan apiece, the Beijing-based lender said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The sale enabled Minsheng to realize a profit of 3.8 billion yuan from its five-year investment in Haitong, the China Securities Journal reported on Thursday. Minsheng's profit is expected to rise 35 percent this year, the Shanghai Securities News cited its president Hong Qi as saying last month.

Minsheng's attempts last year to sell down its holdings in Haitong through auctions failed, as few investors were willing to buy brokerage shares in a tumbling stock market.

Minsheng shares closed at 7.94 yuan on Wednesday in Shanghai, having nearly doubled so far this year thanks to a revival in the Chinese A-share market.

($1=6.830 yuan)

(Reporting by Alfred Cang and Jacqueline Wong)