China Merchants Bank plans rights issue

China Merchants Bank CMB plans to raise up to Rmb35 billion $5.4 billion from a rights issue of A- and H-shares as it tries to boost its reserves to meet new capital adequacy requirements. The rights issue will hit the market in September at the earliest, according to a statement the bank made yesterday, adding further to the amount of capital-raising in the financial sector during the second half of this year.

CMB’s rights issue won’t be too big a drain on the appetite for financial sector shares among international investors, however, as only 18.1% of its capital raising, or about $985 million will come from the sale of...