BoCom to sell 3 bln yuan bond issue in Hong Kong

HONG KONG, July 10 (Reuters) - Bank of Communications (BoCom) (3328.HK), China's fifth-largest lender, plans to sell 3 billion yuan ($437 million) worth of bonds in Hong Kong from next week, a senior bank executive said on Thursday.

The yuan-denominated bonds would be the first by a mainland bank this year and would have a two-year maturity, with the coupon rate to be set in the next few days, the BoCom executive, who was not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters.

The retail portion of at least 1 billion yuan would go on sale from July 17 to July 23, he said.

BoCom (601328.SS) got shareholder approval to issue up to 5 billion yuan worth of bonds in Hong Kong earlier this year.

It is one of five mainland banks planning to issue a total of 15 billion yuan worth of bonds in the city, newspapers reported earlier this week. The others are Bank of China (3988.HK) (601988.SS), China Construction Bank (0939.HK)(601939.SS), China Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of China.

Last year, China gave the green light to mainland banks to issue yuan-denominated bonds in Hong Kong in a move to liberalise China's capital controls and create a platform for its lenders to get more involved in international finance markets.

HSBC (0005.HK) (HSBA.L), Bank of China (Hong Kong) (2388.HK), Bank of Communications International and Bank of Communications Hong Kong had been hired as joint lead arrangers of the BoCom deal. ($1=6.859 Yuan) (Reporting by Victoria Bi; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)