Agricultural Bank price range implies base deal of max $21 billion

Agricultural Bank of China ABC has set the price range for the H-share portion of its initial public offering at a level that confirms a significantly smaller deal than what the bank first indicated when it hired its bookrunners in early April.

Sources said late yesterday that the H-shares will be offered to investors at between HK$2.88 and HK$3.48 apiece, which implies a deal size of HK$73.3 billion to HK$88.4 billion $9.4 billion to $11.4 billion before the exercise of the 15% greenshoe. ABC, which is the largest retail bank in the world with 320 million customers, is kicking off the formal H-share roadshow today and is scheduled to list...