Standard Chartered To Invest $500M In AgBank's IPO

30th Jun 2010 07:57

By Kaveri Niththyananthan Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--London-listed Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.LN) said Wednesday that its Standard Chartered Bank will invest $500 million in Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.'s (601288.SH) floatation in Hong Kong, as it strengthens its position in Asia. "This investment is a natural next step in our long-standing relationship and it underpins our recent agreement to develop business together," Standard Chartered's Chief Executive Officer Peter Sands said. "China is a key market for us and our partnership is a strong symbol of our commitment there." AgBank's initial public offering is one of the world's largest listings, aiming to raising $23.2 billion. However that figure is below the $30 billion it had originally targeted because of sluggish market conditions. The two banks plan leveraging off each others' strengths and have already agreed to explore opportunities for collaboration across Standard Charter's international network and AgBank's domestic network. Such opportunities may include working across global financial markets, capital markets, international trade corridors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and consumer finance sectors, while also looking to share economic research, Standard Chartered said. AgBank, which is headquartered in Beijing, is China's third-largest lender by assets and has over 23,000 branches, servicing about 2.6 million corporate customers and 320 million retail customers. The transactions is subject to successful completion of AgBank's IPO and will be financed by Standard Chartered's internal cash resources. AgBank will give the final price for the IPO on July 7, and its stock will start trading in Shanghai on July 15 and in Hong Kong on the following day. Over the past three months, Standard Chartered shares have shed 6% of their value, closing Tuesday at 1,659 pence. -By Kaveri Niththyananthan, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420 7842 9299; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 02:57 ET (06:57 GMT)