POSTAL Savings Bank of China Co.’s A shares will start trading today after the Sate-owned bank with the largest branch network in China completes a share sale on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The Beijing-based bank raised a net 28 billion yuan (US$3.97 billion) at an initial public offering price of 5.50 yuan per share, it said yesterday.

An over-allotment option, if fully exercised, will bring total net proceeds to 32.21 billion yuan, the bank said in a stock exchange filing.

Over the past year, Chinese banks, especially regional ones, have increasingly sought to list on domestic exchanges in a bid to boost capital as the country’s economy slows.

Postal Bank’s share sale would potentially be the world’s fourth-largest listing this year behind Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s US$11 billion share sale last month, Uber Technologies Inc.’s US$8.1 billion initial public offering in May and that of Budweiser Brewing Co. in September.

“Postal Savings Bank, as a large-cap stock, will face pressure under the current market conditions,” said Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund. “Market turnover is low and liquidity is not abundant.”

For years, stock debuts in China were a slam-dunk trade, valued at no more than 23 times earnings and typically popping by 44 percent on their first day.

Curbs on supply and valuations saw mainland initial public offerings bring more than 400 percent-a-month returns.

That all changed this year when regulators eased restrictions for the STAR Market stocks, though those changes have yet to be rolled out to other venues. (SD-Agencies)