China COSCO Shipping Buys Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank
Australia & New Zealand Banking Corp (ANZ) has agreed to sell its 20 percent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB) for US$1.33bn.
China Cosco Shipping Corp and Shanghai Sino-Poland Enterprise Management Development Corp had each agreed to acquire 10 percent of SRCB.
The sale comes as the bank moves to shrink its business and scale back its presence in the region.
ANZ said the sale will not have a meaningful impact on its balance sheet, with the price broadly in line with the value of the asset in ANZ's annual accounts.
No comment was immediately available from China Cosco Shipping or Sino-Poland.
State-owned China Cosco Shipping has amassed stakes in several Chinese banks and financial companies, says a report in FT.
In December the shipping group’s investment arm bought shares in China Cinda Asset Management, an asset manager.
A year earlier it acquired a 13.6 per cent stake in China Bohai Bank from China Ocean Shipping.