China’s CITIC Bank Corp Ltd (601998.SS) said late on Wednesday its board had approved a deal to buy a 60 percent stake in Kazakhstan’s Altyn Bank, a subsidiary of Halyk Bank HSBK.KZ(HSBKq.L), the country’s No.2 lender by assets.
Halyk Bank said in November it had reached an agreement to sell a controlling stake in its subsidiary to CITIC Bank, without giving any financial details.
In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, CITIC Bank said that it would make the acquisition through “public transactions” on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange at a price determined at the time of purchase.
Altyn Bank is a medium-sized lender with assets of about $930 million, targeting both retail and corporate customers. Before Halyk bought it in 2014, it had been a unit of HSBC.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is currently visiting Kazakhstan, which neighbors China to the west and is a trade partner, including in Beijing’s “Belt and Road” plan to develop infrastructure deals around the region.
Chinese lenders Bank of China (601988.SS) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS) also have subsidiaries in Kazakhstan, although they are smaller than Altyn and focus on corporate lending.
Source: Reuters.com