Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank, one of China’s largest lenders to farmers and small businesses, plans to raise up to $1.78bn in an initial public offering in Hong Kong in what is expected to be the first in a wave of listings by smaller rural-focused Chinese banks.

　　中国面向农民和小企业的最大银行之一——重庆农村商业银行(Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank, CRCB)计划在香港进行首次公开发行(IPO)，筹资至多17.8亿美元。预计在这宗IPO之后，面向农村的中小规模中资银行将掀起一波上市潮。

　　The bank launched its IPO roadshow in Hong Kong on Monday in spite of an uncertain market that prompted at least two other companies to cancel their planned listings in the city in the last week.

　　重庆农商行周一在香港启动IPO路演，尽管过去一周，不确定的市场环境促使至少两家公司取消了香港上市计划。

　　CRCB will sell 2bn new shares for between HK$4.50 and HK$6.00, raising as much as $1.55bn, or up to $1.78bn if investors show a lot of interest and a “greenshoe” over- allotment quota is exercised.

　　重庆农商行将发售20亿股新股，定价区间为4.50港元至6.00港元，筹资至多15.5亿美元，或在投资者兴趣高涨、超额配售选择权得到行使的情况下，筹资至多17.8亿美元。

　　CRCB was formed through the merger of dozens of struggling rural credit cooperatives in Chongqing municipality in western China in 2008 and will be the ninth mainland Chinese bank to list in Hong Kong.

　　重庆农商行是2008年通过合并重庆市数十家困境中的农村信用合作社而成立的，该行将成为第九家在香港上市的中国内地银行。

　　But it will be the first of China’s regional rural commercial banks, which cater mostly to China’s vast impoverished rural hinterland, to list anywhere and could be followed by some of its peers around the country, many of which have already applied to list on the Shanghai stock exchange.

　　但它也将是中国内地首家上市的地方性农村商业银行，可能得到全国各地同行的效仿，其中许多银行已向上海证交所提出上市申请。农村商业银行主要为中国内陆广大的贫困农村地区服务。

　　In the country’s affluent eastern province of Jiangsu alone, four such banks have already applied to regulators to sell shares in IPOs, according to senior regulatory officials.

　　据高级监管官员介绍，仅在富裕的江苏省，就有4家此类银行已向监管机构申请通过IPO发售股票。

　　These banks are some of the least transparent and worst performing financial institutions in the country but are increasingly catching the attention of domestic and international investors now that nearly all of China’s large state-controlled national lenders have already listed in Shanghai or Hong Kong.

　　这些银行跻身中国最不透明、业绩最差的金融机构之列，但在中国几乎所有国家控股的大型全国性银行已在上海或香港上市的情况下，农村商业银行日益引起了国内外投资者的关注。

　　Investors are being enticed by the strong post-IPO performance of larger lenders such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, which has seen its shares rise 28 per cent since its mid-July IPO in Hong Kong.

　　投资者受到大型银行上市后股价表现的吸引，如中国工商银行(ICBC)、中国建设银行(CCB)和中国农业银行(Agricultural Bank of China)，后者自7月中旬在香港上市以来，股价已上涨28%。

　　CRCB, like most rural commercial banks in China, seriously lags behind its larger counterparts in terms of profitability, fee income and asset quality but the bank’s underwriters and some analysts say that this makes the bank a better investment because of room for future improvement.

　　与中国多数农村商业银行一样，重庆农商行在盈利能力、费用收入和资产质量方面严重落后于中国大型银行，但该行的承销商和一些分析师表示，这使该行成为一项更好的投资，因为它具有未来改善的空间。

　　They also cite very strong backing from the Chongqing government, which should protect the bank in the event of possible future financial crises, and the bank’s focus on China’s under-banked countryside as reasons for investor optimism.

　　他们还指出，重庆农商行得到重庆市政府的强有力支持，这应当足以在未来发生金融危机时保护该行，同时该行的业务重点是目前银行服务不充足的中国农村地区，这些都是投资者应当乐观的理由。

　　The bank says that it has reduced its non-performing loan ratio in recent years from 11.5 per cent to 2.73 per cent, while rapidly increasing its profits.

　　重庆农商行表示，近年已将不良贷款率从11.5%降至2.73%，同时快速提高了利润。

　　It has 1,800 outlets across Chongqing municipality and it ranked as China’s 20th largest bank by assets by the middle of this year, with total assets of Rmb264.5bn.

　　该行在重庆市有1800个营业网点，截至今年年中，该行总资产达到2645亿元人民币，为中国第20大银行。

　　Morgan Stanley and Nomura are underwriters for CRCB’s Hong Kong IPO, which prices and closes on December 8.

　　摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和野村(Nomura)是重庆农商行香港IPO的承销商。此次IPO将在12月8日结束认购并确定发行价。