Goldman completes exit from ICBC

The US investment bank has now realized cumulative proceeds of more than $9.7 billion through several block trades of ICBC shares. This particular transaction saw 1.58 billion shares sold at around HK$5.50 apiece.

Goldman first bought a 4.9% stake in ICBC for $2.58 billion in April 2006, before the bank went public in Hong Kong in October the same year.

Divestments started in June 2009 when 3.03 billion shares were sold for HK$14.79 billion ($1.9 billion). It then sold a further 3% holding in the company for HK$17.45 billion in September 2010. A third block trade came in November 2011 when it sold a 0.5% stake, or 1.75 billion H shares, for around HK$8.55 billion.

Goldman then sold $2.5 billion worth of H-shares to Temasek Holdings and other institutional investors in April last year. Priort to yesterday's trade, the most recent transaction came in January and was worth $1 billion.

Last month, ICBC reported a 12% increase in first-quarter profit and increased its lending, extending RMB461 billion ($75 billion) of new loans in the first quarter, up 25% year-on-year. Since acquiring its stake in the bank, Goldman has recorded $3.47 billion in net gains on the position through the first quarter of 2013.

This is the second notable exit from China's financial services sector this year. In January, The Carlyle Group made $4 billion when it completed the last of a series of block trades in China Pacific Insurance. The PE firm originally invested $400 million in China Pacific across two tranches in 2005 and 2007.

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• Topics
• Buyout
• Greater China
• Financials
• Exits
• ICBC
• Goldman Sachs
• The Carlyle Group
• Exit
• China
• Financial Services