The Bank of Communications which is already listed in Hong Kong hoped it could get back to local yuan-denominated A-share market by June.

The company's application to issue 3.2 billion A-shares for initial public offering, to be traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, will be examined Monday by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Once approved, the new issue will turn the country's first joint-stock commercial bank established in 1987 into the third bank to have a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the CITIC Bank.

The new issue was expected to account up 6.5 percent of the enlarged total shareholdings.

Analysts say that the IPO would likely raise 20 to 24 billion yuan although the prices are yet to be decided by the bid price of buyers and the situation of the A-share market.

The bank announced in February that it would issue subordinated bonds worth 25 billion yuan through the country's interbank market.

The bank reported net profits of 12.27 billion yuan in 2006, a sharp increase of 32.7 percent from the previous year. The value of its assets totaled 1.71 trillion yuan, up 20.8 percent, according to a report released by the bank in March.

The Bank of Communications, established in 1908, became China's first joint-stock commercial bank in 1987 and listed on the Hong

Kong stock market in 2005. (One U.S. dollars equals to 7.728 yuan)

Source: Xinhua