AMTD Deals | Hong Kong IPO of Weihai City Commercial Bank

Weihai City Commercial Bank Co., Ltd. ("Weihai City Commercial Bank" or the "Company"; 9677.HK), headquartered in Weihai, Shandong Province - marine economy demonstration zones of China, was successfully listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (“HKSE”) on October 12, 2020. Weihai City Commercial Bank is the only city commercial bank listed on Hong Kong stock exchange in 2020, with AMTD acted as a Joint Bookrunner and Joint Lead manager.

This deal is the eighth PRC leading regional bank’s IPO completed by AMTD in recent years, which further demonstrates AMTD’s strong execution capability and long-term commitment in assisting PRC regional banks to land on the international capital market and facilitate follow-up investments.

In this transaction, Weihai City Commercial Bank offered a total of 877,271,000 shares at the offer price of HK$3.35 per share, which translated to an offering size of US$379 million (prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option).

The Bank was rated as the “National Top 10 City Commercial Bank” for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019 by Financial News, and it is also the only city commercial bank with outlets covering all prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province, the third largest province in the PRC in terms of GDP. In addition, the Bank ranked third among all city commercial banks headquartered in Shandong Province in terms of total assets, total deposits from customers, and total loans to customers as of December 31, 2019.

AMTD has a long-term commitment and strategic partnership in the PRC regional bank sector. AMTD ranked 2nd by number of PRC regional bank IPOs completed as joint global coordinator since 2015 among global investment banks, and AMTD is also the largest independent asset manager in Asia for PRC regional banks as measured by AUM. No matter in H-share IPO or AT1 capital preferred share offerings, AMTD is one of the leading financial services providers for PRC regional banks, helping them gain access to international capital markets and promoting their internationalization strategy.

In recent years, AMTD has led eight H-Share IPOs of PRC regional banks, including Bank of Qingdao (3866.HK), Tianjin Bank (1578.HK), Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank (1551.HK), Zhongyuan Bank (1216.HK), Jiangxi Bank (1916.HK), Jinshang Bank (2558.HK), Bank of Guizhou (6199.HK), and Weihai City Commercial Bank (9677.HK), with an aggregate proceeds of over US$6.7 billion. In addition, AMTD has also led the AT1 capital preferred share offerings of five PRC regional banks, including Bank of Qingdao, Zhongyuan Bank, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank, Bank of Zhengzhou, and Bank of Jinzhou, with aggregate proceeds of US$6.8 billion.

At the same time, with the development of the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, more cooperation opportunities are mapped out by strengthening communication and interconnection between Hong Kong and PRC. AMTD plays a prominent role as a bridge connecting Hong Kong capital market with leading PRC regional banks.

In 2018, AMTD, under the witness of HKSAR government, launched the “Regional Banks+ Strategic Cooperation Alliance” together with regional banks including Bank of Qingdao, Zhongyuan Bank, Jiangxi Bank, Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank. Later on, leading banks such as Airstar Bank and East West Bank were invited into the alliance to further promote the innovation and development in FinTech, smart finance, inclusive finance, and green finance by utilizing various resources, mutual cooperation and collaborative synergy.