Standard seeks HK listing

August 1, 2001 Posted: 0810 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Standard Chartered, a UK-based bank focusing mostly on Asia, said on Wednesday it has applied to list its shares in Hong Kong.

The company, valued at £9.2 billion ($13 billion), plans to offer 5 percent of its share capital, worth about £460 million, to new shareholders. The money raised will fund growth.

London-based Standard Chartered has expanded its business in the Asian and Middle East market with the acquisition of Grindlays unit of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group for around $1.3 billion in April last year.

Standard also bought Nakornthon Bank in Thailand and JP Morgan Chase's  (JPM: Research, Estimates) consumer banking operations in Hong Kong last year. It now generates more than 80 percent of its revenue from Asia, Africa and Middle East.

Reporting results in U.S. dollars for the first time, the bank also said first-half net profit rose 11 percent to $404 million, or 40 cents a share, from $363 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue also rose 11 percent to reach $2.2 billion.

Pretax profit was $651 million in the six months to June 30, up from $559 million in the same period last year. Banking analysts polled by Reuters forecast profit of between $598 million and $653 million for the six months.

Standard Chartered said it had increased it bad debts provision to $269 million, up 5 percent, "reflecting a larger consumer banking business and a tougher economic condition" as slowdown in the U.S. economy begins to spread across the Pacific.                     

"The outlook for several of our countries is still uncertain, which may impact revenues and bad debts in the second half," said Chairman Patrick Gillam. "Some countries, such as Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, are suffering because of weak export demand, notably in the electronics sector."

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