KWM has advised Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on the sale of a 10% shareholding in Bank of Hangzhou Co., Ltd (HZB) for RMB 8.275 billion (approximately A$1.8 billion). The buyers were Hangzhou Urban Construction & Investment Group Co., Ltd and Hangzhou Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd, two entities majority-owned by the Hangzhou Municipal Government. HZB is a commercial bank based in Hangzhou, China and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
As part of the sale, CBA agreed to retain its remaining shareholding in HZB of approximately 5.56% until at least February 2025. As CBA’s CEO has stated, this ongoing shareholding will enable CBA to continue to support HZB’s development as one of China’s leading city commercial banks and will also complement CBA’s relationships in the region.
The KWM team was led by cross-border M&A Partner Jonathan Grant and PRC securities Partner Jiang Zhihui, with support from Tom Harrison, Juncheng LIU, Ying ZHANG, Piero Craney, Tianyue HAO, Diqing WANG, Lirao FENG and Yue GE.
Commenting on the sale, Partner Jonathan Grant said: “We were delighted to advise CBA on this strategic transaction that will enable them to continue to focus on their core banking business in Australia and New Zealand. KWM is uniquely suited to assist its international clients on their transactions in China generally and in China’s financial services sector in particular, given our leading cross-border M&A capabilities and deep on-the-ground Chinese regulatory expertise.”
The transaction closed on 30 June 2022.
KWM continues to advise CBA on several of its most strategic transactions. KWM previously assisted CBA on:
- the sale of its 37.5% equity interest in Chinese life insurer BoCommLife Insurance Company Limited to MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc for RMB 4.325 billion (approximately AUD 886 million), which completed in 2020; and
- the sale of 15 Chinese county banks to Qilu Bank Co., Ltd (QLB) in exchange for shares in QLB (another commercial bank listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange), which completed in 2017.
