Beijing asks China Mobile to buy ICBC shares-media

BEIJING, July 3 (Reuters) - China's state asset watchdog is encouraging China Mobile (0941.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest mobile phone carrier by users, to buy shares in the country's biggest commercial bank ICBC (1398.HK: Quote, Profile, Research), state media reported on Friday.

The State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission is pushing China Mobile to buy stakes in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, but the discussion is still in the early stages, China Daily quoted an unnamed source as saying.

The investment would be made by the parent company of Hong Kong-listed China Mobile, said the paper.

"But how large a stake SASAC wants China Mobile to buy in ICBC is unclear," it said.

Officials at China Mobile and its parent said they were not aware of the request to buy shares in ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value.

The move is part of efforts by SASAC, which now oversees 138 of the country's biggest non-bank state-owned enterprises, to encourage state enterprises to combine their industrial capital with financial capital, the paper said.

Such a move may also be designed to prop up the shares of big state-owned banks, which have seen a spate of recent sell-offs by foreign strategic investors, it said.

China Mobile had 182.5 billion yuan ($26.71 billion) in net cash at the end of 2008.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) sold $1.9 billion worth of shares in ICBC in June, looking to boost its balance sheet hurt by the global financial crisis.

That sale came after German insurer Allianz (ALVG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and U.S. credit card group American Express (AXP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) raised a combined $1.9 billion in April by selling ICBC shares. ($1=6.832 Yuan) (Reporting by Kirby Chien, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)