China's Pudong Bank plans $5.6 bln shr sale-sources

SHANGHAI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600000.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), partly invested by Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), plans to issue 1 billion additional shares to raise roughly 40 billion yuan ($5.60 billion) to boost its capital amid fast lending growth, people briefed on the situation said on Wednesday.

The bank has hired UBS's (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (UBS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Beijing-based investment banking joint venture and China CITIC Securities (600030.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to jointly handle the proposed new stock sale, three people close to the bank told Reuters.

Board members of Pudong Bank are expected to hold a meeting next week to vote on the share sale plan, which would also be subject to approvals from its shareholders and Chinese regulators, said the people, who declined to be identified before an official announcement is made.

A Pudong Bank spokeswoman said she did not have any information to release at the moment, when asked for comment on the possible stock sale. ($1=7.148 Yuan) (Reporting by George Chen; Editing by Edmund Klamann)