A group led by Citigroup Inc., the US banking giant, won the bid for more than 85 percent of China's Guangdong Development Bank (GDB) on Thursday. This ended a extended battle with French bank Societe Generale and China's second largest insurer Ping An Group.

The Citigroup consortium and the Guangdong bank signed a deal worth 24.267 billion yuan (US$3.033 billion) for slightly over 85 percent of GDB shares in Guangzhou at around 8:00 PM Thursday.

The six-institute consortium includes Citigroup, China Life Insurance Group, the nation's largest insurer and China Guodian Corp, a major electricity distributor. They'll   hold 20 percent of GDB shares respectively. The other three institutes will hold just over 25percent.

In a press release GDB board chairman, Li Ruohong, said the restructuring would help the bank develop with the participation of both international and domestic players. 

GDB governor, Zhang Guanghua, said the restructuring was not the only one playing a part in the reform and opening-up of China's financial industry.

The bidding for GDB was made public when Citigroup was reported last year to be seeking a 40 percent stake as part of a consortium that would take 85 percent of the bank.

On December 28 Citigroup submitted an offer of 24.1 billion yuan (US$3.01 billion) while Societe Generale bid 23.5 billion yuan (US$2.94 billion) and Ping An 22.6 billion yuan (US$2.83 billion) for an 85-percent stake in GDB.

But they had to revise their bids after banking rules issued in May imposed foreign ownership restrictions.

The GDB was established in 1988 and developed into a national bank with assets worth of 370 billion yuan (US$46.25 billion) and more than 12,000 employees. However, by the end of 2003 the bank's bad loans totaled 35.7 billion yuan This accounted for 18.53 percent of total loans.

William Rhodes, senior vice president of Citigroup, said he was optimistic about the future of GDB. 

Citigroup, with offices in over 100 countries, last year posted $2.7 billion in profits from its international consumer business. 

This year Citigroup has opened 574 bank and consumer-finance offices. These are mainly fast-growing economies like India. Only British bank HSBC and GE Capital come close to matching Citigroup's size.

The GDB deal coincides with changes in the rules governing foreign banks in China. The country will allow foreign-funded banks to conduct Renminbi business for Chinese citizens in line with the country's commitments when entering the World Trade Organization.

The government would also remove regional restrictions and other limits on foreign-funded banks giving them the same treatment as Chinese banks, said Song Dahan, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Office of China's State Council, at a press conference on the new regulations. 

According to the regulations issued Wednesday the Chinese branches of foreign banks remain banned from engaging in Renminbi services with Chinese citizens unless an individual, with the approval of the banking regulatory body, makes a fixed deposit of a minimum one million yuan (US$125,000).

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2006)