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 We're From China. We're Here To Help (ZT) |
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BizDiggers
头衔: 海归上校
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加入时间: 2006/06/20
文章: 166
来自: USA
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作者：BizDiggers 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Forbes.com Paul Maidment 12.19.07, 12:30 PM ET
Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin termed it "going out"--an investment policy setting Chinese companies on a global scavenger hunt for the natural resources and raw materials needed to fuel its fast-growing economy.
Last year, fully a quarter of China's $21.2 billion in outward investment went to the mining sector, particularly in Africa.
Now the focus is broadening, as evidenced by a number of high-profile overseas moves by China's banks and financial services firms, of which China Investment Corp.'s $5 billion stake in Wall Street's second largest investment bank, Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ), is only the latest.
This follows hard on the heels of Ping An Insurance's purchase of a 4.2% stake in the Belgo-Dutch Fortis (other-otc: FORSY.PK - news - people ) insurance group for $1.2 billion, announced in late November; just days later, China Life, Ping An's larger rival, said it was looking to buy a stake in a big European or North American insurance company.
This year, we have seen three of China's five state-owned commercial banks, and its investment bank, CITIC, on the move. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) took a 20% stake in Standard Bank in South Africa for $5.5 billion. It has also taken a 90% stake in Indonesia's Halim Bank.
China Development Bank has taken a $3 billion, 3.1% stake in the U.K.'s Barclays (nyse: BCS - news - people ) (and is tying up loose ends on a deal with the United Bank for Africa in Nigeria). Bank of China is reportedly interested in buying Standard Chartered Bank (other-otc: SCBEF.PK - news - people ), though Standard Chartered has said it wants to stay independent.
The granddaddy of China's overseas investors, CITIC, took a cross holding in the U.S.'s cash-strapped Bear Stearns (nyse: BSC - news - people ) investment bank. As with CIC's stake in Morgan Stanley, it took advantage of the opportunity created by the subprime mess in the U.S. to make a strategic move. For its part, CIC will control 9.9% of Morgan Stanley once its investment converts to common shares in 2010.
The country's swelling reserves account for the money fueling the moves. Chinese companies must turn over their foreign exchange reserves to the central bank. Conservatively managed in the past, the new policy is to boost returns, partly by turning over some of the money to the new sovereign investment fund, now tied to U.S. investment firm Blackstone Group (nyse: BX - news - people ).
Meanwhile, some of China's social security fund is being managed by three U.S. private equity funds: Carlyle, KKR and TPG; and companies like Ping An are being encouraged to invest directly.
For a developing country running current account surpluses, such an outward investment strategy is par for the course. Japan and South Korea went down much the same path--although China is involving itself in the financial sector far sooner and deeper than either of those countries.
For the firms, it diversifies revenue sources, and--up to a point--follows their customers' own expansions overseas. ICDC, for example, says it wants to raise the non-domestic business share of its revenue from 3% to 10%.
It also builds presence and networks in foreign markets--access being more important than control, hence the portfolio stakes.
With China's swelling reserves providing the wherewithal for more and more of these deals, this seems to be a conscious policy change by Beijing in the hope they will constrain foreign concerns about the global spread of Chinese capital into real assets--and at a time when U.S. and European financial firms are stepping up complaints that they have only limited access in the opposite direction.
作者：BizDiggers 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
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 We're From China. We're Here To Help (ZT) -- BizDiggers - (3793 Byte) 2007-12-20 周四, 05:18 (612 reads)
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