Pudong Bank eyes share sale after Olympics

By George Chen

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600000.SS: Quote, Profile, Research), a China partner of Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), has not applied for regulatory approval of a planned share sale, which will likely be delayed until after August's Olympic Games due to weak market conditions, its president said on Friday.

"It seems we may have to wait quite a long time to issue our new shares, given that the market environment is very poor at present," Pudong Bank President Fu Jianhua told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a financial forum in Shanghai.

"We must consider the market's ability to handle it," he added, saying the launch of the share issue was likely to come some time after the Beijing Olympics.

The bank's shareholders in March approved a plan to raise up to 20 billion yuan ($2.86 billion) via a sale of new shares in order to boost its capital base.

Shanghai's benchmark share index tumbled about 50 percent in the six months after hitting a record peak last October, in part due to concerns about heavy new supplies of shares from initial and secondary offerings.

China's stock regulator has tried to stabilize the market by limiting large share sales after lock-up expiries and allowing domestic fund houses to issue more mutual funds.

Some market watchers also believe regulators may delay approvals of major share sale plans until after the Olympics, in an effort to restore investor confidence.

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