From Bloomberg:
China Construction Bank Corp. agreed to buy Bank of America Corp.’s Hong Kong and Macau branches for HK$9.7 billion ($1.24 billion), the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese lender.
The takeover will give China’s third-largest bank 17 outlets with HK$7.4 billion of net assets, the Beijing-based company said in a statement today. Construction Bank, which also posted an 18 percent drop in first-half profit on tax changes, will buy all of Bank of America (Asia) Ltd. with cash.
Construction Bank said the acquisition would help create a leading international lender and strengthen its partnership with Bank of America Corp., which paid $3.3 billion for a 9 percent stake in the Chinese firm last year. China’s banks are turning to Hong Kong to gain experience after decades of fraud and lax- lending controls led to billions of dollars in bad loans.[Full Text]
