November 10 -- Goldman Sachs Group plans to sell 2.4 billion H shares of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH, 1398.HK) at HK$4.88-5 per share, reports 163.com, citing foreign media.

After the stake sale, which could fetch the American bank about $1.54 billion, Goldman Sachs' shareholding in ICBC will be reduced to 7.9 billion H shares.

This would mark the third time that Goldman Sachs is reducing its H shareholdings of ICBC.

The bank had sold $1.9 billion worth of H shares in June 2009, and another $2.25 billion worth of H shares in October 2010.

According to the third quarter report of Goldman Sachs, it lost $393 million during the reporting period, its first quarterly loss since the 2008 financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs had a week ago released a report which was optimistic abut the outlook of Chinese banking stocks. It had even recommended cash inflows into ICBC, Agricultural Bank of China (601288, 1288.HK), and China Construction Bank Corporation (601939.SH, 0939.HK).