By Jeffrey Ng
Midsize lender China Citic Bank Corp. plans to raise around 37
billion yuan ($6.02 billion) in a bond sale, becoming the country's
latest bank to raise capital against economic headwinds and rising
bad loans.
Citic Bank, in which Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA
has a stake of just under 10%, said Tuesday it planned to sell the
bonds Friday to replenish its Tier 2 capital.
China's banks are rushing to raise cash through equity and debt
sales to help bolster their balance sheets to meet tough new
regulatory requirements and to defend against a slowing economy and
souring loans.
Bank of China Ltd., the nation's fourth-largest lender by
assets, earlier this month raised 30 billion yuan in a bond
offering, just days after rival Industrial & Commercial Bank of
China Ltd.'s 20 billion yuan bond issuance.
Citic Bank is the domestic banking arm of China's Citic Group, a
financial conglomerate established in 1979 by the late Chinese Vice
President Rong Yiren. Citic Group operates under the direction of
the State Council, China's cabinet.
Write to Jeffrey Ng at jeffrey.ng@wsj.com