China Construction secures shareholders’ nod

Lender targets $11bln from 630mln shares in Shanghai and 15.7bln shares in Hong Kong.

China Construction Bank Corp., the world’s second-largest lender by market value, won shareholder approval for a plan to raise as much as 75 billion yuan ($11 billion) in a rights offer.

Investors approved the plan at a shareholder meeting in Hong Kong on Thursday, Chairman Guo Shuqing said. Under the plan first announced in April, the lender will offer as many as 0.7 shares for every 10 held, or as many as 630 million shares in Shanghai and about 15.7 billion in Hong Kong.

The sale will bring to about $25 billion the amount of money being raised by China’s four biggest publicly traded banks after they extended record loans last year to support a government-led stimulus. China’s banks stayed profitable during the financial crisis, enabling them to increase lending even as U.S. and European banks restrained credit.

View the full story in Business Week.