Show me the money, PICC tells long list of banks

State-owned Chinese insurance company PICC Group has drawn up a short-list albeit a very long one of 17 banks that could get a role on the H-share portion of its upcoming initial public offering, sources said yesterday. The deal is highly awaited as it is likely to be one of the biggest IPOs in Asia this year, potentially raising as much as $4 billion to $6 billion from an A- and H-share listing combined.

All the banks were invited to a deal kick-off meeting yesterday, but the expectation is that not all of them will end up getting the most coveted roles as global coordinators or bookrunners. According to...