Beijing green-lights Everbright bailout
14 December 2006
Beijing has approved a capital injection for China Everbright Bank involving a strategic investment from a foreign player, the Wall Street Journal reported. Financial regulators submitted a report to the State Council in September backing the package, the newspaper reported, quoting a person familiar with the situation. Banking regulators are facing a year-end deadline that required all domestic banks to hit an 8% capital-adequacy ratio. Although China Everbright hasn't published any recent data on its ratio, it is thought to be around 2%. The package would likely include an IPO in Hong Kong to raise up to US$3 billion.
