EQUITIES: Goldman sells US$2.5bn of ICBC stake

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Goldman Sachs sold a stake worth US$2.5bn in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in a block trade launched and completed this morning.

The deal, which was launched at 7am Hong Kong time this morning, was heavily anchored by Singapore’s Temasek, which took US$2.3bn of the deal. About 70 investors, mainly from Asia, snapped up the remaining small number of shares.

The shares were sold at a fixed price of HK$5.05, or 3.1% discount to the pre-deal spot. The fixed-price nature enabled the deal to be completed and allocated quickly before the open of the Hong Kong stock market today. As a result, no suspension of trading in ICBC shares was needed.

Goldman was the sole bookrunner.

Goldman’s last selldown of an ICBC stake was on November 9 2011, when it raised HK$8.54bn from the disposal of 1.75bn H-shares at HK$4.88 each.

After the latest selldown, Goldman still owns about 4.1bn ICBC H-shares, while Temasek will hold a 5.3% stake in the Chinese lender.