China Merchants Bank in US$3.2 billion global rights offering

China Merchants Bank has issued a US$3.2 billion global rights offering. This is the first global rights offering by a Chinese bank and the first rights offering by a PRC company made available to US investors. China Merchants Bank is headquartered in Shenzhen and the sixth-largest commercial bank in China by way of total assets.

This offering comprised a public offering of Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed A-shares, a public offering of H-shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and private placements of H-shares to institutional investors outside the PRC and Hong Kong. The global coordinators of the rights offering were UBS and China International Capital Corporation (CICC). Citi was the financial adviser of the H-share rights offer and the joint lead underwriters were BNP Paribas, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and UBS.

The issuer was advised by Davis Polk & Wardwell on US law. The corporate Hong Kong and Beijing teams were led by James Lin of the Hong Kong office. Herbert Smith was Hong Kong counsel to China Merchants Bank and Jun He Law Offices was its PRC adviser. The underwriters were advised on US and Hong Kong law by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Commerce & Finance Law Offices represented them on PRC law.