Shares of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank were suspended from trading on Friday after the medium-sized Chinese lender said it planned to enlist strategic investors, tipped to include China Mobile, the world’s biggest wireless operator.
The bank, which is 3.8 per cent owned by Citigroup, plans to sell a 20 per cent stake to China Mobile for about Rmb40bn ($5.9bn), according to a research report by Guotai Junan Securities, one of the country’s biggest brokerages.
Wu Yonggang, author of the report, declined to reveal the source of the information. Pudong Development could not be reached for comment. China Mobile also declined to comment.