Goldman and Deutsche take lead in China bank IPO

飞雪寒冰

Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank have secured lead roles in the blockbuster initial public offering of Agricultural Bank of China.

The mainland lender on Thursday announced that the two banks and China International Capital Corp would be the three joint global co-ordinators for its listing in Hong Kong.

Agricultural Bank is planning a dual initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong that some analysts predict could raise Rmb200bn ($29bn), which would make it the world's biggest ever listing. Macquarie, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan were also chosen to advise on the listing.

The mandates are a coup for the banks because the fees for advising on the IPO are expected to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

飞雪寒冰

The announcement is a major consolation for Deutsche Bank, which was working on the $15bn-plus Hong Kong listing of the Asian insurance assets of AIG until the listing was aborted last month in favour of an asset sale to the UK's Prudential.

Agricultural Bank is China's last remaining large commercial lender to seek a stock market listing. Its IPO was repeatedly delayed to allow the government-owned bank to reform its management and balance sheet.