China Everbright Bank's 11.5 billion yuan ($1.68 billion) private share placement has been approved by regulatory authorities, furthering the bank's quest for an initial public offering.

The bank applied in June 2008 to sell shares publicly in Shanghai, but a nationwide IPO. suspension derailed plans for the listing, according to China Daily.

After the share placement, the bank would raise its capital adequacy ratio above 10% and its core capital adequacy ratio above 7 %, the bank said in a statement.

The statement said there are eight prospective investors, all of which are Chinese state firms, including China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp., China Power Finance, China Reinsurance (Group) Corp.,Shenergy Group Co., Aerospace Science and Technology Financing, Shanghai Chengtou Corporation and Guangdong Provincial Expressway Development Co..

The company started preparing for the plan early this year to raise capital from domestic investors to cope with adverse effects of the global financial downturn, the statement said.

The bank reported 11.73 billion yuan of business revenue, 3.43 billion yuan of net profit and a bad loan ratio of 1.42% in the first half of 2009, said the statement.

Investment China