WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-02-04 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Carla
Beijing – China’s biggest bank said Sunday it has received approval to buy a 20 percent stake in South Africa’s biggest lender, the latest big-ticket overseas expansion by Chinese investors.
The deal between state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Standard Bank Group is one of China’s biggest foreign corporate acquisitions to date.
“The Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission has approved the plan by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to take the stake,” the bank said in a brief statement on its Web site.
The statement did not provide financial details of the deal, which was announced last year, but the official Xinhua News Agency said it was worth $5,46-billion.
“The deal has already been approved by shareholders of both banks along with regulators in South Africa,” the statement said.
The move comes amid a push by communist leaders for China’s companies to expand abroad to diversify the economy. Efforts have focused on developing ties with Africa as a potential source of energy, raw materials and markets for its booming economy.
China’s state-owned banks are growing rapidly amid an export-fueled economic boom and are expanding abroad to serve Chinese clients in foreign markets and to win international business.
ICBC’s decision in South Africa to take a minority stake instead of acquiring a bank outright was in line with a Chinese strategy of trying to avoid possible political frictions over buying assets abroad.
Chinese companies have been skittish about acquisitions since the uproar in 2005 over state-owned oil company CNOOC’s attempt to buy US oil and gas producer Unocal CNOOC dropped its bid after American critics said it might endanger energy security.
ICBC is flush with cash to pay for foreign expansion after raising a record-setting US$21.9 billion in an initial public stock offering in October 2006.
ICBC says it has 1.1-trillion yuan ($153-billion) in assets and reported profits in 2006 of 49.3 billion yuan ($6,8-billion).
Standard Bank, headquartered in Johannesburg, operates in 38 countries and says it has assets of US 119 billion.
Beijing is encouraging Chinese companies to invest abroad in what it calls a “go global” strategy to diversify the economy and take advantage of international opportunities.
Chinese companies invested US 21 billion abroad in 2006, according to the government. – Sapa-AP
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20080203111434540C769873