From the Associated Press via the Washington Post (link)
Office worker Carol Au scurried out of the Bank of China’s dazzling skyscraper in central Hong Kong with a subscription form to buy shares in the lender’s $9.9 billion initial public offering, slated to be the world’s biggest IPO in six years.
The 28-year-old was like hundreds of thousands of other Hong Kongers who flocked to bank branches during the past week to pick up forms for the June 1 listing on Hong Kong’s stock market. They’re ready to bet that the No. 2 bank in China’s booming economy will be a great investment.
But Au was also aware of the risk of investing in a bank with a history of bad loans and corruption. The bank’s former chairman and president Wang Xuebing is serving a 12-year prison term for taking bribes.
