29 March 2017, advised by King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), Zheshang Bank Co., Ltd. (“Zheshang Bank”) issued US$2.175 billion 5.45% non-cumulative perpetual offshore preference shares. While growth in Chinese banks’ planned issuance of preference shares overseas is expected to explode in 2017,  Zheshang Bank’s overseas issuance marks the very first one among its peers in 2017.

Zheshang Bank is one of the twelve national joint-stock commercial banks in China, and was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 30 March 2016. The issuance is well received by the market, and was jointly led by domestic and overseas leading institutions, including CITIC Lyon Securities, Haitong International, Ping An Securities (Hong Kong), CMB International, HSBC, CICC Hong Kong Securities, China Silk Road Capital, Yuexiu Securities, ABC International, CMBC International, SPDB International, Bank of Communications Hong Kong Branch, BOC International Asia, CCB International, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs Asia.

KWM acted as PRC counsel for the underwriters. During the course of the project, KWM played an important role with its extensive experience in preference shares issuance, from providing the underwriters with domestic legal service to assisting with communications between Zheshang Bank, the underwriters and the regulators as well as relevant preparations for obtaining approvals and filing. Zheshang Bank is one of KWM’s long-term clients. Following its H-share listing in 2016, this is another milestone which has deepened the cooperation between KWM and Zheshang Bank in the capital market. It is also another successful preference shares project that KWM has advised on. KWM will continue to advise more clients on their development in the domestic and overseas capital markets to enhance their overall competiveness and achieve their development strategy in the global capital markets. The project was led by partners Su Zheng and Li Yuanyuan.