China Minsheng Banking Corp has put off its H share listing until next year, but senior bank executives said on Friday that the bank would rev up preparations to list as soon as possible.

"The delay of the H-share listing is due to procedural problems," said Jing Shuping, chairman of Minsheng, on Friday at a shareholders' meeting of the bank in Beijing.

The board and the intermediaries have been working hard for the overseas listing. But the bank still needs the final approval from regulators in both the mainland and Hong Kong for the H-share issue.

"We will try our best to realize the listing (in Hong Kong) as early as possible next year," said Hong Qi, executive vice-president of Minsheng.

A listing in the first quarter is hopeful, but it depends on the progress of a regulatory review, he told China Daily.

He also said that the bank would continue to focus on risk control while further expanding business in the coming years, though the pace of expansion should slow down more moderately than before.

Minsheng, based in Beijing, has already listed A shares in Shanghai. The H-share offering was planned for 2004, but some complexity in the transfer of State holdings to private investors prolonged the schedule.

The bank first got the H-share issue proposal approved by its shareholders' meeting on January 8, 2004, with an authorization on the board to finish the project within 12 months.

The bank then applied to the banking and securities regulators and got the initial support a few months later.

Then it started to handle the transfer of some State holdings to private investors to prepare for the overseas listing.

Minsheng had tried to sell a 4.82 percent State-controlled stake to US investment company New Bridge Capital, but the transaction was cancelled in July.

It finally chose to transfer a 4.55 percent stake to Asia Financial Holdings Pte. Ltd of Singapore prior to the H-share offering. The deal just got approval from relevant government departments.

"We still need the final approval from China Securities Regulatory Commission on the overseas listing plan and then implement relevant procedures at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so probably we can not finish all the work before January 8," said Mao Xiaofeng, secretary of the board of Minsheng.

At Friday's meeting, Minsheng's shareholders agreed to prolong the validity of the authorization on the H share listing preparation for another 12 months.

"But that does not mean we will put off the listing till January 2006," said Jing. "It will not be that long."

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is supposed to finish the review of Minsheng's final application in 6 weeks and then make a decision.

If things go smoothly, Minsheng can kick off its road show then.

"The delay of the H-share listing does not have much impact on Minsheng's image," said Liang Zhongbao, a staffer at the asset management department of CITIC Securities Co.

The listing should be realized anyway, he said.

The prime concern is the pricing of the H-share issue, as it may affect the bank's A- share price, he said.

Minsheng has not revealed the planned price for the H-share offering, but market sources said that it may be priced at around HK$4 (US$0.512), compared to 5.69 yuan (US$0.687) for its A share by Friday.

The price gap may have a short-term impact on the A shares, but what matters most is the quality of the bank and the long-term investment value, an individual shareholder of Minsheng told China Daily on Friday.

(China Daily December 25, 2004)