US bank to sell part of stake in CCB

Hong Kong-listed shares of China Construction Bank rose more than 4 per cent yesterday after Bank of America said it will sell about half of its 10 per cent stake in the Chinese lender, providing relief to investors by removing uncertainty surrounding the stake.

By The Newsroom

Published 31st Aug 2011, 07:00 BST

News that Temasek Holdings was among institutions that bought the shares offloaded by BofA also lifted CCB’s appeal as the Singapore state investor had only about a month ago sold $3.6bn (£2.bn) worth of CCB and Bank of China shares.

Sources familiar with the situation said that Temasek is among the buyers of the BofA stake in the world’s number two lender by market value, a move that surprised some.

“They’re behaving almost like a hedge fund, which is surprising because they’ve always talked about being a long-term investor,” said James Antos, a banking analyst at Mizuho Securities in Hong Kong.

Temasek-linked investment firm Seatown, run by the state fund’s head of strategy Jimmy Phoon, was also a buyer, another person familiar with the situation said. The person did not know the size of Seatown’s purchase.

Hong Kong