Lawyers for China Minsheng Banking Corp (CMBC), the first and largest privately owned joint stock commercial bank in the PRC, had to work together to juggle the requirements of the Shanghai Stock Exchange as well as the HKSE in order to complete the launch of CMBC’s IPO in Hong Kong. “[CMBC] has been A-share listed for many years, so the H-share listing needed to accommodate A-share listing rules as well,” said Tim Wang, counsel at Clifford Chance.

CMBC is the first bank to successfully list on the HKSE since the GFC hit. The IPO of this financial institution generated much interest amongst investors and the public offering was 150 times oversubscribed. “In Asia, we believe banking and finance remains one of the key sectors for investor interest, both through listings such as [CMBC], through acquisitions such as the recent disposal of ING's private banking businesses in Asia, and through acquisition of stakes and JV arrangements,” said Amy Lo, partner at Clifford Chance.

No doubt, investors would also have been impressed with CMBC’s financial performance in recent years. From 2006 to 2008 the bank increased its net profit at a compound annual growth rate of 44.9% from RMB3.8bn to RMB7.9bn and it recorded a profit of RMB10.2bn for the nine months ended 30 September 2009.

CMBC intends to use the funds raised through the IPO to strengthen its capital base to support the ongoing growth of its business.

*The underwriters were: UBS, BOCI Asia, CICC, Macquarie Capital Securities, Hai Tong Securities, China Everbright Securities, Daiwa Securities, First Shanghai Securities, China Merchants Securities, Oriental Patron Securities, Wintech Securities

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