It was second time lucky for Bank of America on Wednesday as it raised $2.8bn after placing 5.6bn of its shares in China Construction Bank with institutional investors.

The US lender first tried to offload the chunk before Christmas but shelved the placing at the last minute, mystifying investors who had signed up to purchase the shares. BofA on Wednesday declined to shed any light on the reasons for postponement, although dealmakers believe that Beijing objected to the precise timing.