Citigroup has confirmed that a Citigroup led consortium has reached an agreement to acquire an 85.6% stake in Guangdong Development Bank (”GDB”) for 24.267 billion yuan/US$3.06 billion. At closing, Citigroup will own a 20% stake in GDB, as will China Life and State Grid. CITIC Trust will hold a 12.85% stake, Puhua will hold an 8% stake and IBM will hold an approximate 4.74% stake.

This transaction represents the first time a major international financial services company, leading a consortium of co-investors, has been permitted to obtain substantial ownership and assume a significant management role in a Chinese financial institution.

GDB has one of the largest branch networks amongst China’s joint stock banks with 27 branches nationwide and 502 outlets. It has assets of USD47.9 billion with 12 million consumer customers, 9 million cardholders, 16,000 SME customers and 12,474 employees. ( Citi Group )

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