Citigroup pushes at the limits to foreign ownership in Chinese banks
IN A manoeuvre sure to incite the envy of its peers, Citigroup is poised to become the first foreign bank, and only the second foreign investor, to gain control of a Chinese lender. The American financial-services giant is leading a consortium that has bid some 24 billion yuan ($3 billion) for an 85% stake in Guangdong Development Bank (GDB), a medium-sized bank from China’s relatively rich south. Citigroup itself could own 40-45% of GDB if the deal proceeds, making a mockery of rules limiting a single foreign investor in a Chinese bank to 20% and all foreigners to 25%.
This would be a comeback for Citigroup, which for two years has had to sit and watch while rivals have grabbed strategic positions in the Chinese banking market. In June 2005 Bank of America (BofA) beat Citigroup to a 9% stake in China Construction Bank (CCB), one of the country’s four biggest lenders. Citigroup even lost a profitable position advising on CCB’s multi-billion-dollar flotation. This time it has moved faster, outbidding ABN Amro, of the Netherlands, and France’s Soci