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Strategies & Market Trends : True face of China -- A Modern Kaleidoscope -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (612)	11/15/2006 11:46:11 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12464

Citi to Announce China Bank Deal Thursday: Sources nytimes.com By REUTERS Published: November 15, 2006 Filed at 7:59 a.m. ET Skip to next paragraph Reuters HONG KONG ( Reuters) - Citigroup Inc. (C.N), was set to announce victory in a protracted $3 billion bid for a Chinese bank on Thursday, beating rival Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), two sources close to the deal said on Wednesday. Citigroup, the world's largest financial services provider, will take a 20-percent stake in southern China's Guangdong Development Bank, while International Business Machines Corp. (IBM.N) will take about 5 percent, the sources said. Citigroup, which will hold the single largest stake in the lender, was working with the Guangdong provincial government to organize a ceremony to be held on Thursday in Guangzhou, where Guangdong Development Bank is based, the sources said. ``Tomorrow, there will be a press conference in Guangzhou and Citigroup and local government staff are working together to pick a venue and to arrange the meeting,'' said a banking source. ``No doubt. Citigroup wins the bid,'' the source said, adding that the deal still needs final approval from China's banking regulator. Officials at Citigroup, Societe Generale, Guangdong Development Bank and the Guangdong provincial government all declined to comment. ``It's a landmark deal for Citigroup after it lost its bid for a stake in China Construction Bank (0939.HK) to Bank of America (BAC.N),'' said Wu Yonggang, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai. Bank of America last year paid US$3 billion for 9 percent of China Construction Bank, the country's top property lender, beating Citigroup and other foreign rivals eager to tap the country's 10-percent economic growth, US$2 trillion in personal savings and a credit culture that is in its infancy. ``Now, Citigroup can fulfill its whole-China strategy by having Guangdong Bank in the south of China and Pudong Bank in the east of China, though we still need to see how the two local partners of Citigroup can cooperate with each other,'' he said. The Citigroup-led consortium is bidding to pay about US$3 billion for a combined 85-percent stake in the bank. Citigroup's consortium includes top Chinese life underwriter, China Life Insurance (2628.HK) (LFC.N), which will take a nearly 20-percent stake, making it the No. 2 shareholder in the Chinese bank, the sources said. Top Citigroup executives, including Chief Executive Charles Prince and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, now a member of Citigroup's office of the chairman, were in Hong Kong this week for meetings. IBM Chief Executive Sam Palmisano was in Beijing on Tuesday. It was not known whether senior executives from Citigroup's New York headquarters and representatives from IBM would attend the event to be held in Guangzhou on Thursday or not. Citigroup last year won preliminary approval to take a stake larger than 20 percent in Guangdong Bank, but that arrangement was later knocked down by regulators, re-opening the bidding with Societe Generale. China limits a single foreign owner to taking less than 20 percent in a bank, while total foreign investment in a Chinese bank is capped at less than 25 percent. Citigroup and Societe Generale were attracted to the Chinese lender's more than 500 branches, rather than the lender's bad-debt laden balance sheet. Citigroup is also in talks to increase its stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (600000.SS) to 20 percent from less than 5 percent. Stakes in both banks would give the firm a footprint in two of China's richest markets. Guangdong Development bank has been represented in the deal by Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE).