Bank of China (BOC), the country's fourth-largest lender by assets, said Friday it would raise up to 60 billion yuan (8.97 billion U.S. dollars) in a dual rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges to replenish capital.

In a statement filed to the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, BOC said it will sell one share for every 10 existing shares and start taking subscriptions from existing investors on Nov. 3.

The new shares are priced at 2.36 yuan per share for A-share investors on Shanghai Stock Exchange or 2.74 HK dollars for H-share investors in Hong Kong, it said.

According to the lender's equity structure, BOC will raise about 42 billion yuan (6.28 billion U.S. dollars) from A-share shareholders and 18 billion yuan (2.69 billion U.S. dollars) from H-share investors.

BOC's largest shareholder, China Central Huijin, an investment arm of China's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation, said earlier in July it would buy all the new shares allocated under the rights issue, or about 40.5 billion yuan (6.05 billion U.S. dollars).

If China Central Huijin fully exercises its rights as said, BOC will raise only 1.5 billion yuan (224 million U.S. dollars) from other A-share shareholders and the impact on the market's liquidity would be limited, analysts said.

The share price of BOC was a tick higher opening at 3.56 yuan in Shanghai but dipped slightly to 4.65 HK dollars in Hong Kong.

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