Malaysia's second-largest bank CIMB Group has agreed to buy 20 percent of China Yingkou Commercial Bank to gain a presence in the country.
The group will pay 348.8 million yuan (US$49.2 million) to become the biggest shareholder of Yingkou bank, which had assets worth the equivalent of 14 billion yuan on 31 December, 2007, the lender said yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.
CIMB is also considering an option to list the Yingkou bank on a stock exchange, Nazir Razak, Chief Executive Officer of the group, said yesterday without giving details.
It is the company's long-term aspiration to grow and build a significant franchise in China together with the Yingkou bank, Nazir told reporters.
The Yingkou bank, set up in 1997, is a commercial bank operating in north China's Liaoning Province through a merger of city credit cooperatives.
The fast-growing Chinese economy, which surged 11.4 percent in 2007, has been a target for overseas banks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc has invested in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest bank, and Citigroup Inc has gained a stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Single foreign investors cannot buy more than 20 percent of a Chinese bank.