Goldman Sachs raises US$1 billion from ICBC shares

It’s the biggest share sale in Asia so far this year.

The US$1 billion shares sale by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of its holdings in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. was two times oversubscribed. The sale will help boost Goldman's capital ratio as tougher global capital requirements mandated by Basel III take effect.

Goldman sold 1.35 billion shares of Hong Kong-listed ICBC in a block trade at HK$5.77 (US$0.74 U.S) each, a 3% discount to their Monday closing price.

Goldman's stake in ICBC, China's biggest bank by assets, is now at 3.4% from 4.9% in 2006. The Wall Street bank now holds 2.95 billion shares in ICBC, or 3.4% of ICBC's Hong Kong-listed shares, and 0.8% of its total share base.

Goldman has raised more than US$8.6 billion from selling ICBC shares. Goldman first bought a 4.9% stake in ICBC for US$2.58 billion in April 2006 before ICBC's Hong Kong listing.

Goldman said it has no immediate plans to sell more shares in ICBC.