Partnerships come under scrutiny amid stake sales
In an emotional outburst unusual for mainland enterprises, Bank of China said it would not forget 'partners who sent charcoal in the snowy weather' nor 'those who extracted the firewood from under the cauldron'.
The sentiments voiced by spokesman Wang Zhaowen, as reported last week by Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po, speak volumes of the difficulties mainland lenders face as they struggle through economic headwinds while cash-strapped foreign partners trim their mainland investments.
On the heels of UBS' disposal of its entire 1.33 per cent stake in BOC last month, Royal Bank of Scotland Group on Thursday sold a 4.3 per cent stake in the lender for as much as HK$18.4 billion, ending a strategic investor relationship that began in 2005.
Bank of China is not the first and unlikely the last to be abandoned by foreign stake holders.
With the three-year lock-up period expiring soon, strategic shares held by foreign investors that could be disposed of include the combined 7.2 per cent stake in Industrial and Commercial Bank held by Goldman Sachs, Allianz Group and American Express; the remaining 5.79 per cent stake held by Bank of America Corp in China Construction Bank Corp after it trimmed a 2.4 per cent stake on January 7; and the remaining 3.99 per cent stake held by RBS China Investment and the 4.13 per cent stake by Singapore sovereign fund manager Temasek Holdings in BOC.