Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Tuesday denied that it is in talks about buying UK-based Travelex, which runs an airport currency exchange network.

“The bank is in discussions with Travelex about potential business cooperation. These discussions do not involve the bank taking over Travelex or acquiring any interests in Travelex,” said Pan Gongsheng, Secretary to the ICBC board of directors.

South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper reported that Travelex and ICBC have held several rounds of talks since last year. It also said both sides have discussed about expanding Travelex in China. If the deal proceeded, it would be one of the largest overseas acquisitions for a Chinese company.

With more than 700 retail branches in over 30 countries, London-based Travelex was valued at 1.06 billion pounds (2.1 billion dollars) in a February 2005 deal which made private equity firm Apax Partners Worldwide the company’s majority owner.

The ICBC chalked up the world’s biggest initial public offering in October last year, raising 21.9 billion dollars when it was listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets. (Yahoo News)