Bank of America to sell out of China Construction Bank
Bank of America said overnight it started selling its remaining stake in China Construction Bank (CCB) for as much as $US1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), marking the final step of the US bank's multi-year exit from the asset.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank joins a list of Western financial institutions that have found that their investments in Chinese financial firms did not give them the foothold they had hoped for in that country.
"The only thing that will be central to banking in China will be China's domestic banks," said Donald Straszheim, head of China research at International Strategy & Investment in Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs sold out of its seven-year investment from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
The Chinese banking system has shown signs of stress, with bad loans picking up as economic growth slows. As a result, several Chinese lenders are preparing to launch equity sales to bolster their capital base.
But even before the Chinese banking sector weakened, many US and European banks decided to sell the assets to bolster their capital bases and focus on their main businesses.
Since US and European banks began building stakes in Chinese banks, new international capital rules have been formulated, which will make it more expensive for them to own shares of other financial institutions.
Bank of America said on Tuesday that it expects to record about a $US750 million gain, before taxes, on the stake sale. With that profit, its total gains from dividends and selling shares will amount to nearly $US18 billion before taxes, according to regulatory filings between 2009 and 2013.
The bank's investment dates to 2005 when it paid $US3 billion for a 9.9 per cent stake ahead of the Chinese bank's initial public offering.
At the time, Bank of America's then chief executive Kenneth Lewis said the partnership was designed to give Bank of America more access to roughly 1.3 billion Chinese consumers, while CCB would benefit from BofA's US retail banking experience.
The US bank increased its holdings in following years, before paring it down starting in 2009. In 2011, the bank raised a combined $US14.9 billion from selling shares in CCB to a group of investors that included Singapore's Temasek Holdings .
Bank of America launched Tuesday's sale after a lock-up on its remaining stake expired last month. The bank will continue its strategic partnership with CCB in business areas like customer service and sales models, the bank said in a press release.
The bank launched the offer on Tuesday for 2 billion Hong Kong-traded shares of CCB in a range of HK$US5.63 to HK$US5.81 ($US0.73 to $US0.75) each, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters. The price is equivalent to a discount of up to 5.1 per cent to Tuesday's close of HK$US5.93.
Bank of America shares closed at $US14.25, up nearly 1 per cent from Friday's close.
CCB shares are down 4.7 per cent since the beginning of the year in Hong Kong, outperforming the 9 per cent decline in the financial sub-index of the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2013.
Cleaning up
Bank of America has been cleaning up its balance sheet since the financial crisis. In the bank's 2012 annual report, chief executive Brian Moynihan wrote that the bank had divested more than $US60 billion of assets outside its main businesses while improving capital ratios and maintaining its earnings power.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank increased its second-quarter profit 70 per cent to $US3.57 billion. The bank managed to trim operating expenses by 6 per cent while boosting its Basel III capital ratio.
The bank has been particularly active in streamlining its international operations. In recent years Bank of America sold its foreign wealth management businesses to Julius Baer Group and credit card portfolios in Canada, Spain and Britain to various banks and private-equity firms.
Some foreign banks continue to hold on to their investments in Chinese lenders. Among them are HSBC, which owns a 19.9 per cent holding in China's Bank of Communications and Spain's BBVA's has a 15 per cent stake in China Citic Bank.
Reuters
鉅亨網編譯呂燕智 綜合外電 2013-09-04 12:30:28
《路透社》報導，美國銀行（Bank of America）（BAC-US）周二（3日）表示，計畫以至多 15 億美元，悉數出售所餘中國建設銀行（601939-CN）（00939-HK）股權。
這象徵著過去 8 年美銀對建設銀行的投資，完全告一段落。
美銀預計以5.63 - 5.81 港元（約73-75美分）出售 20 億股建設銀行H股；周三台北時間上午 11︰05，建設銀行香港掛牌股價挫低 2.19%，暫報 5.8 港元。
美銀周二股價小漲 0.92%，收 14.25 美元。
美國銀行早在建設銀行 2005年赴香港掛牌前，就斥資 30 億美元收購後者 9.9% 股權；而從 2011 年 8 月開始陸續進行出售，截至今日持有股權已降至 1%。
計錄顯示，光是美銀 2011 年將 5% 左右建設銀行股權售予新加坡淡馬錫（Temasek Holdings），前者就輕鬆入袋了 149 億美元。
與此同時分析師指出，此舉也顯示美國金融業者對中國銀行的投資興趣，已經較前幾年大幅消退。
投資機構 International Strategy & Investment Group 首席研究員 Donald Straszheim 表示，「中國銀行業的核心要角，最終還是中國本土銀行」，而且目前中國銀行體系正面臨經濟降溫，以及壞帳飆高的嚴峻考驗。
今年 5 月高盛（Goldman Sachs）（GS-US） 全數出脫中國工商銀行（1398-HK）（601398-CN）股份，價值約 11.2 億美元，同時也結束了對中國最大銀行長達 7 年的投資。
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