Central Huijin, an arm of the country's sovereign wealth fund, had raised its holdings of China Construction Bank (CCB)'s A shares through shares purchase at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to the bank's statement.

Huijin held 70.8 million A shares of CCB as of Nov 28 since it started to practice the stake-increase scheme on Sept 23.

The total stake that Huijin held in CCB increased from 65.4041 percent to 65.405 percent after it bought 2 million CCB's A shares from the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sept 23. At the same time, it said it would continue to increase its stakes in the lenders over the following 12 months.

Huijin, which has a 57.06 percent stake in the country's third largest bank, had transferred part of the shareholdings to Bank of America (BOA), the biggest US bank by market value.

BOA had completed a previously announced purchase of shares increasing its stake in CCB to 19.1 percent from 10.75 percent as of Nov 28.

Based on the guide that stakes cannot be increased within 30 days before the listed company releases regular statement or 10 days before it releases an operating result forecast and result flash report, Huijin couldn't raise its shareholdings in Oct because the 31st was the last day to announce its third quarter results. This indicates Huijin's follow-up holdings were focused for November.

According to the Caijing website, both sides agreed that BOA will remain with about a 10 percent stake in CCB, and BOA will probably reduce its shareholdings at a proper time in the future, which won't take place at a secondary market and Huijin may buy it back.

(China Daily December 4, 2008)