British banking giant
HSBC
Holdings Plc. will sign an agreement on Saturday to acquire an
eight percent minority stake in the Bank of Shanghai, a report
said.
The deal makes the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
(HSBC)the first foreign bank to take an equity stake in a mainland
bank since China's accession to the World Trade Organization this
month, the South China Morning Post reported.
HSBC said in a statement on Friday that the acquisition of the
Shanghai-based small commercial bank would cost 517.92 million yuan
(US$62.65 million).
The World Bank's International
Finance Corp.(IFC) also has a five percent equity stake in the
Bank of Shanghai.
The Bank of Shanghai had assets of some US$11.6 billion by December
31, 2000.
(China
Daily December 29, 2001)