(by Ameli Berksman)

Bank of China, one of the country’s Big Four lenders, stated it wouldn’t list shares till the second half of 2005. Next year it is expected to price its initial public offering in between $3 billion and $4 billion.

Bank’s president Li Lihui said the bank had been in talks with some potential investors without naming them, though some analysts predict such banks as Deutsche Bank, UBS and J.P. Morgan to be the ones.

Bank of China has recently been changed into a joint-stock company with registered capital of $22.5 billion. Its bad-loan ratio dropped 5.43% by the end of July against 5.46% at the end of June. Its capital-adequacy ratio climbed to 8.3% by the end of July as compared with the June 7.9% results. Bank’s operating profit rose 21% against 2003 and ended at $4.6 billion. All these facts will play the leading tune in the next year IPO, Li said. "Right now we are in talks with strategic investors. We will definitely have big international banks among our investors," he added