8/26/2005 高盛才是絕對的贏家---頂!

高盛才是絕對的贏家----它不僅不用冒戰略投資風險,而且拿到主承銷的絕活!!!! 頂!! Goldman Hired for Bank of China's IPO, People Say (Update2) Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's leading stock underwriter, was hired to prepare an initial public offering for Bank of China, the nation's second-biggest lender, people familiar with the plan said. Bank of China Chairman Xiao Gang this week met with Goldman bankers led by Mark Machin, co-head of investment banking in Asia outside Japan, the people said, declining to be identified. Goldman will work with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Bank of China's auditor, to prepare for an IPO to raise at least $5 billion as early as the first quarter of 2006, they said. Bank of China last week agreed to sell a 10 percent stake to Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, Merrill Lynch & Co. and a foundation set up by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing for $3.1 billion. U.S. and European banks spent $8 billion buying stakes in China's lenders during the past year in an economy that grew 9.5 percent in 2004, more than twice the pace of the U.S. ``Goldman's track record in helping Chinese banks list overseas has given them an advantage,'' said Andrew Chan, an analyst at Pacific Sun Investment Management in Hong Kong. ``Public share sales are a very important stage of reform for the state-owned banks and Bank of China has to ensure it has an experienced team of bankers to handle the sale.'' Goldman arranged Bank of Communications Ltd.'s $2.2 billion IPO in June. Shares of China's fifth-biggest lender rose 33 percent since the sale. UBS Role UBS AG, the second-ranked global stock underwriter this year, also held meetings with Xiao and will probably work on the IPO with Goldman, people familiar with the plan said. The two investment banks managed a $2.7 billion IPO for Bank of China's Hong Kong business in 2002. The Bank of China IPO would yield about $150 million of underwriting fees, based on previous sales by state-owned Chinese companies. Goldman sold $24.8 billion of stock globally for clients this year, reclaiming the top ranking it ceded to Morgan Stanley in 2004, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Edward Naylor, Goldman's Hong Kong-based spokesman, declined to comment. Bank of China's Beijing-based spokesmen Wang Zhaowen and Duan Zhonghui, an official in Xiao Gang's office, also declined to comment. Mark Panday, a Hong Kong-based spokesman at UBS, and Lyanna Chan, a spokeswoman for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the same city, wouldn't comment. Bad Loans China is poised to overtake Europe as the second-largest market for initial public offerings after the U.S. as it seeks funds to help sustain the world's fastest growth by a major economy. IPOs, which didn't exist in Communist China until 1984, may generate fees of about $550 million for securities firms in 2005, according to Bloomberg calculations. China's biggest banks, coal producers and shipping companies may sell a record $17 billion of stock in IPOs this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. China is encouraging the nation's four biggest state-owned lenders, including Bank of China and China Construction Bank, to raise capital overseas to help them reduce bad loans, improve management and introduce risk controls. Local lenders will face greater competition in 2007 when China allows overseas banks to do business in the local currency with individuals for the first time. Chinese lenders are saddled with bad loans that stood at more than 10 cents on every dollar lent at the end of June, according to the China Banking Regulatory Commission. That compares with 1.56 cents on every dollar in Hong Kong. Beijing- based Bank of China's bad-loan ratio fell below 5 percent for the first time at the end of June. Bank of China ranks as the world's 39th-biggest lender, with $464 billion of assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It holds 9 percent of China's record $1.65 trillion of savings at its 11,000 branches. The bank received a $22.5 billion government bailout in 2003 to help clear non-performing loans. Bank Investments Bank of China International Holdings Ltd., the lender's investment-banking arm, will also work on the IPO, people familiar with the plan said. Li Shan, the unit's chief executive, declined to comment. Zurich-based UBS is negotiating to buy a stake in Bank of China. UBS Chief Executive Peter Wuffli on Aug. 9 said that its bid for a stake in the Chinese bank was independent of a proposal it has made to underwrite the bank's IPO. Royal Bank of Scotland, the U.K.'s second-biggest bank, is investing $1.6 billion in Bank of China. Banks in China are also struggling with outdated information systems and fraud. Just five of Bank of China's domestic branches are connected by computer to its Beijing headquarters, while this month the former head of its Hong Kong operation was given a suspended death sentence for graft. Overseas lenders are investing in Chinese banks to gain access to more of the nation's $1.65 trillion of savings. Economic growth in China averaged 8.6 percent a year for the past decade. The economy grew 9.5 percent in the second quarter. To contact the reporter on this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at [e-mail]. Last Updated: August 26, 2005 07:19 EDT