Mid-sized Chinese lender Everbright Bank hopes to receive a capital injection from the government by the end of this month, its chairman said on Wednesday.

The capital infusion, central to Everbright's long-awaited restructuring plan, would come from Central Huijin, an arm of China's sovereign wealth fund, Tang Shuangning told reporters.

Tang, a former banking regulator who took over as chairman of China Everbright Group and its banking unit earlier this year, did not give details on the size of the injection.

But he told a forum earlier on Wednesday that the bank was looking to bring in strategic investors before an eventual stock market listing.

Everbright is saddled with debts in part because of its takeover of troubled China Investment Bank in the late 1990s, and local media have long put the size of a potential bailout at 20 billion yuan ($2.7 billion).

But overseas lenders, keen to get into China, have been interested in Everbright because of its size and geographical reach in a nation where many high-profile domestic banks have already teamed up with foreign financial institutions.

Standard Chartered Bank has been in talks with Everbright for more than three years over possibly taking an equity stake, according to banking sources.

Everbright Bank is 21 percent-owned by Hong Kong-listed China Everbright Ltd, an Everbright Group unit. The Asian Development Bank is the only foreign stakeholder, with 2 percent. ($1=7.4420 yuan)