On September 23rd and 24th, two state-owned enterprises listed for sale their 100% stake in Guangzhou Bank. Since Guangzhou Bank withdrew its application for an initial public offering (IPO) in January this year, multiple stakes of Guangzhou Bank have been publicly auctioned or transferred.
According to the report by “Nanfang Daily” on September 23rd, on September 22nd, China Merchants Bank listed 667,500 shares of Guangzhou Bank stock for trading on the Shenzhen United Property Exchange (Shenzhen United Exchange). The listed equity accounted for 100% of the company’s holdings, with a base price of 1.4781 million yuan, equivalent to 2.21 yuan per share, a discount of 49% from Guangzhou Bank’s net asset value per share of 4.48 yuan last year.
On September 23rd, China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Shenzhen Sales Company officially listed 551,800 shares of Guangzhou Bank for trading. The listed equity accounted for 100% of the company’s holdings, with a base price of 2.913 million yuan, equivalent to 5.28 yuan per share, 1.18 times the net asset value per share of the Bank from last year.
Both state-owned enterprises are engaged in a “clearance-style” transfer of Guangzhou Bank’s equity.
In January of this year, Guangzhou Bank made the decision to “withdraw its IPO application.” Since then, multiple stakes in Guangzhou Bank have been publicly auctioned or transferred.
The JD Judicial Auction Platform shows that in February 2025, Huayin Group Limited of Foshan City held 26.7305 million shares of Guangzhou Bank, which were divided into 7 parts for auction, but all 7 auctions were unsuccessful due to lack of bids. In March and July, the aforementioned equity was relisted on the JD Judicial Auction Platform at reduced prices, with starting prices equivalent to 56% and 51% of the net asset value per share from the previous year, but still ended in no sale.
In December 2024, Guangdong Provincial Telecommunications Corporation completed the transfer of its 662,200 shares of Guangzhou Bank, with a transaction price per share equivalent to 40% of the Bank’s net asset value per share from the previous year.
The report indicates that after Guangzhou Bank withdrew its IPO, many original shareholders are preparing to exit, yet no one has taken up the opportunity to purchase the equity even at a 50% discount. The report speculates that investors exiting may be related to the continuous decline in Guangzhou Bank’s performance.
According to data from the Wind data platform, in 2024, Guangzhou Bank achieved revenue of 13.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 13.9%, marking a consecutive two-year decline, with a net profit of 1.01 billion yuan, a 66.5% year-on-year decrease. This has been a continuous four-year decline in net profit for the Bank, while its net interest margin has dropped to 1.35%, a decrease of 41.3% from its peak in 2019.
In 2025, the performance of Guangzhou Bank continues to decline. According to corporate warning data, in the first half of 2025, the Bank achieved revenue of 6.702 billion yuan, a 10.2% year-on-year decrease, with net profit data not disclosed. As of the end of the first half of the year, the Bank’s core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio had dropped to 7.9%, a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from the end of the previous year.
The report states that the declining performance coupled with the withdrawal of the IPO has blocked Guangzhou Bank’s path to replenish capital through listing, further restricting its operational space to reverse performance through the expansion of risky assets.