Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund will remain a long-term investor in Agricultural Bank of China Ltd even after its lock-up period expires on Monday, a senior executive at the Chinese lender said on Friday.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and AgBank would maintain a strategic relationship over the long term, AgBank’s secretary to the board of directors Li Zhenjiang told Reuters.
“AgBank and QIA have a good long-term strategic relationship, and I believe they are long-term investors,” Li said.
QIA is AgBank’s largest non-state investor, holding 6.82 billion shares worth about $3.5 billion based on its current trading price of HK$3.95.
Other cornerstone investors that bought into the IPO of China’s No.3 bank by assets include the Kuwait Investment Authority and Standard Chartered Plc .
About 5.1 billion Shanghai-listed A shares and 12.4 billion Hong Kong-listed H shares would see their lock-ups expire on Friday and Monday, respectively, according to AgBank’s annual report.
The bank said earlier this week that it expected first-half net profit to rise 45 percent from a year earlier, helped by a widening net interest margin and growing fee income.
Such news has done little to reassure investor worries that a slowing Chinese economy could hit the banking sector. A decision by Singapore wealth fund Temasek to sell down its stake in Bank of China Ltd and China Construction Bank Corp has further worsened sentiment in the sector.
AgBank’s shares have fallen by about a fifth since June, far worse than the benchmark Hang Seng Index’s 5 percent decline.
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