China Citic Bank said Thursday it plans to raise a maximum of 26 billion yuan (US$3.83 billion) in a rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong early next year.

Cao Tong, deputy governor of Citic Bank, said the bank will offer up to 2.2 shares for every 10 existing shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2011.

The bank will issue a maximum of 5.859 billion A-shares and 2.278 billion H-shares based on the bank's total capital stock of 39.033 billion shares, according to the bank's statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The move will have a limited impact on the mainland capital market as its A-share capital raising will account for a small part of the issue, Cao said.

The proposal was unanimously approved by the bank's board of directors, the statement said.

China Citic Bank's net profit rose 45.35 percent to 10.685 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Its core capital adequacy ratio stood at 8.26 percent at the end of June and its non-performing loan ratio was 0.81.

(Xinhua News Agency Aug 13, 2010)