Australian &NZ Bank takes maximum foreign stake in China's Shanghai bank

Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group on Wednesday announced to spend 250 million dollars (245.7 million U.S. dollars) to increase its stake in China's Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB).

In order to fuel further growth, SRCB has been conducting a 1.2 million dollars (1.18 million U.S. dollars) capital raising through an offer to existing and new shareholders.

ANZ announced to take up its allocation, but also increase its stake in SRCB from 19 percent to 20 percent, the maximum interest that can be held by a foreign bank in China.

"ANZ's participation in SRCB's capital raising reflects our confidence in the partnership and our long term commitment to growing our presence in China," ANZ's chief executive of Asia Pacific, Europe and America Alex Thursby told Australia Associated Press on Wednesday, adding that China is a key part of ANZ's super regional bank aspiration, with its strong economic growth.

Currently, SRCB has 321 branches in Shanghai and is predominantly a retail and small to medium enterprise bank with more than five million customer accounts.

In September 2007, ANZ made an initial 318 million dollars (312. 5 million U.S. dollars) investment in SRCB.

Source: Xinhua