B of A to sell China bank stake

[godoftrading]

Bank of America plans to sell up to $2.8bn of China Construction Bank shares, less than a month after scrapping an earlier attempt to raise money from its three-year-old stake, reports Bloomberg. BofA is selling 5.62bn shares in China’s second-largest lender at HK$3.92 apiece, a 12% discount to Tuesday’s closing price. The largest US bank is trying to take advantage of almost $14bn of paper profits from its CCB stake, after paying about $33bn to take over Merrill Lynch. BofA cancelled a sale of CCB shares in December partly on concern that Chinese law might force it to forfeit any profit. CCB shares fell 5% in Hong Kong Wednesday late morning trade.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/01/07/50842/bofa-to-sell-china-bank-stake/