Banking News
- AgBank, CDB to be recapitalized
Date: 28-Dec-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
CHINA will soon provide capital injections for the long-planned restructuring of State-owned Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) and China Development Bank (CDB), the head of the fund that will carry out the recapitalizations said yesterday.
Lou Jiwei, chairman of China Investment Corp. (CIC), did not give a detailed timetable.
But his comments provide the clearest official signal yet that the restructuring of both CDB and AgBank is imminent, particularly after AgBank earlier this month denied reports that its restructuring plan had won government approval.
The injections will be carried out by Central Huijin, an investment arm of the central bank that was acquired earlier this year by the CIC, the government's fledgling sovereign wealth fund.
'According to the plan approved by the State Council, Huijin will participate in the reform and restructuring of China Development Bank and Agricultural Bank of China in the near future,'Lou told a financial conference.
Lou also said that Huijin had injected 20 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) into mid-sized lender Everbright Bank on Nov. 30, which puts it on course for a public listing next year.
AgBank is the only of China's big State-owned commercial banks yet to undergo restructuring, starting with an injection by Huijin and eventually bringing in strategic investors ahead of a public listing.
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