Bank of America Corp is selling about half its stake in China Construction Bank for $8.3 billion, in its latest effort to shed assets and boost capital. A group of investors is buying 13.1 billion CCB shares from Bank of America, with the deal expected to close in the third quarter. The US bank declined to name the investors but two sources said Singapore state fund Temasek was among the buyers. Bank of America needs to boost capital by some $50 billion in the coming years to meet new global rules, according to multiple analyst estimates. CCB is the second-largest bank by market value in the world, and Bank of America’s ties with the Chinese bank are seen as an important source of future growth, particularly as economic growth in the United States is likely to be tepid for now. Bank of America’s willingness to sell part of its CCB investment as soon as it was contractually able to shows how far it must go to meet new capital requirements, analysts said. “Bank of America’s decision to sell that stake is wrong strategically in the long run, but they need money,” said Josef Schuster, founder of Chicago-based IPO research and investment house IPOX Schuster. The bank has said it can raise the capital it needs through earnings and selling off assets, but a number of investors have expressed concern that the bank will need to issue more common shares. Those dilution concerns helped push the bank’s shares this month to their lowest level in two-and-a-half years. Investors are also concerned about the bank’s potential losses from mortgages and related litigation.
