The ATM for Chinese banks is sputtering. After coughing up some $100bn in the past five years, including a record $22bn for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, investors are sated and not a little jaded. Agricultural Bank of China, the last – and grottiest – of the Big Four to list, has been forced to temper its lofty $30bn ambitions by a third. Bank of Communications, part-owned by HSBC, slashed its planned rights issue by a fifth to under $5bn.
中國各大銀行的提款機正開始出現故障。投資者在過去五年裏投入大約1000億美元(包括中國工商銀行220億美元的創紀錄上市)後,感覺已經「喫飽」,而且還有不止一點點膩煩。四大銀行中最後上市(同時也是最差的)的中國農業銀行(Agricultural Bank of China),已被迫將籌資300億美元的宏偉目標縮減三分之一。滙豐(HSBC)持有部分股份的交通銀行(Bank of Communications),則已將其計劃進行的配股規模縮減五分之一,至不到50億美元。