Hong Kong: Qatar's sovereign wealth fund will remain a long-term investor in Agricultural Bank of China Ltd (AgBank) even after its lock-up period expires on Monday, a senior executive at the Chinese lender said yesterday.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and AgBank would maintain a strategic relationship over the long term, AgBank's secretary to the board of directors Li Zhenjiang said.
"AgBank and QIA have a good long-term strategic relationship, and I believe they are long-term investors," Li said.
QIA is AgBank's largest non-state investor, holding 6.82 billion shares worth about $3.5 billion (Dh12.85 billion) based on its current trading price of HK$3.95 (Dh1.86).
Other cornerstone investors that bought into the IPO of China's No 3 bank by assets include the Kuwait Investment Authority and Standard Chartered Plc.
Expiration
About 5.1 billion Shanghai-listed A shares and 12.4 billion Hong Kong-listed H shares are seeing their lock-ups expire yesterday and Monday, respectively, according to AgBank's annual report.
The bank said earlier this week that it expected first-half net profit to rise 45 percent from a year earlier, helped by a widening net interest margin and growing fee income.
