Banking News
- Shanghai News
Date: 29-Mar-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
UCBH Holdings Inc., the largest bank specializing in serving Chinese-Americans, said on Tuesday it will buy Shanghai's Business Development Bank Ltd. (BDB) for US$205 million in cash to offer services to customers who do business in China.
Privately held BDB was established in 1992 as China's first wholly foreign-owned bank. UCBH, the San Francisco-based parent of United Commercial Bank, becomes the first U.S. community bank to buy a Chinese-based bank, according to Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. analyst James Abbott.
BDB has US$217.2 million of assets, US$188 million of loans and US$25.5 million of deposits, and is licensed to conduct foreign currency business with non-Chinese companies and individuals. It also has offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shantou. UCBH chief executive Thomas Wu said the purchase should save his company at least four to five years in achieving its expansion plans in China. The company plans to add two or three more branches in the country within three years.
BDB would become a unit of United Commercial Bank and take the latter's brand name. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending U.S. and Chinese regulatory approvals.
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