Banking News
- Guangdong News
Date: 18-Dec-2006 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
SHENZHEN Development Bank said Saturday that it would revise a planned deal for a unit of General Electric Co. to buy a 7.3 percent stake in the bank for US$100 million.
'Because of changes in the policy and market environment and the request of regulatory authorities, new agreements are needed,'the bank said in a brief statement, adding that 'relevant provisions?of the deal would be revised.
The Shenzhen-listed bank said the original deadline for completing the deal, announced in October last year, would soon expire so its board had decided unanimously to extend the bank's partnership with GE while the companies conducted friendly consultations.
Shenzhen bank did not say whether the price of the deal might be revised. Since October last year, the market price of the bank's shares has more than doubled as the domestic stock market and banking sector have boomed.
GE Consumer Finance's purchase of the stake, which Shenzhen bank needs to boost its capital and support further expansion of its business, has not yet gone through partly because of a delay in reforming State shareholdings in the bank.
Shenzhen bank shareholders declined to approve a reform plan in July this year, and while the bank has said it will actively discuss reviving the reform, its statement Saturday did not say when that might occur.
The bank, in which U.S. private equity firm Newbridge Capital owns nearly 18 percent, teamed up with GE and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in October this year to launch a credit card in China.
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