2010-06-10 10:55

SHANGHAI - HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, expects to raise "a significant amount" of funds through a proposed listing on the planned international board in Shanghai, Chief Executive Officer Michael Geoghegan said on Wednesday.

"As the rules haven't been published, it will be very difficult to say how much we will raise from China," said Geoghegan, adding that he hopes company shares will be easily tradable in Shanghai.

Michael Geoghegan, CEO of HSBC Holdings. [QILAI SHEN / BLOOMBERG]

The lender said it would use the proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) in China to facilitate its sustainable growth in the "strategically important" market.

China's plan to set up an international board for overseas firms to float shares in Shanghai has attracted international firms including Standard Chartered and Brazilian mining firm Vale, which have expressed willingness to list.

HSBC will stay focused on preparations for listing in Shanghai, regardless of the current turbulence in the capital markets, but the application is subject to regulatory approval, the company said.

HSBC has appointed China International Capital Corp and Citic Securities to manage its IPO in Shanghai, according to earlier media reports citing unnamed sources.

The London-headquartered bank, founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865, relocated its chief executive office back to Hong Kong in January after 13 years of operation in London - a move designed to position HSBC "for the shift in the world's center of economic gravity from West to East", the company said earlier in a statement.

The Asia-focused lender also announced the opening of its 100th outlet in China on Wednesday, making it the largest network of any international bank in China.

HSBC launched locally incorporated banks in China in 2007, when its network in the country was comprised of 35 outlets.

"We will try to continue to expand at a similar pace (as before)," said Helen Wong, president designate of HSBC Bank (China) Co Ltd.

With regard to HSBC's cooperation with its local counterparts in China, Geoghegan said that remains the principal pillar of the bank's ambitions for growth in China.

HSBC, which holds 19.01 percent of Shanghai-based Bank of Communications (BoCom), said earlier this week that it would subscribe to a BoCom rights issue in full for $921 million.