General Electric Company and Dutch financial group ING may invest in China Construction Bank (CCB), the country's top property lender, the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday.
They are among at least five foreign investors the bank will talk to about selling a combined stake of up to 10 percent before or during its proposed initial public offering, the paper quoted sources as saying.
Citigroup Inc, which has been widely named as a possible bidder, was also mentioned by the newspaper.
CCB may sell 5-10 percent of its shares to foreign investors for 10 billion to 20 billion yuan (US $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion), the paper said.
The bank is expected to raise at least US $5 billion from a simultaneous listings in China and Hong Kong in the second or third quarter of next year, it said.
Other banks previously mentioned as possible investors include J.P. Morgan Chase & Co and UBS
GE, the world's largest conglomerate, said a year ago it wanted to invest in China's financial sector.
"I would like to see in the next one, two or three years GE making an investment in financial services in China," Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said at the time.
GE, which set up its first light bulb factory in China in 1908, in April forecast its sales in the country this year would reach $3.5 billion to $4 billion.
CCB is seeking foreign strategic investors to prepare for a listing planned for 2005. In a step towards that, it set up a joint-stock listing vehicle, China Construction Bank Investment Co, in September.
Bank President Chang Zhenming had said CCB will bring in overseas strategic investors to make its shareholders more diversified.
Beijing is racing to clean up a banking sector laden with more than $200 billion in sour debt that is often cited as the Achilles' heel of the world's seventh-largest economy.
CCB and Bank of China are spearheading banking reforms ahead of the introduction of nearly full foreign competition into the sector by 2007.
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