ICBC secures Goldman pledge

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China yesterday secured a promise from Goldman Sachs that the US bank would hold the majority of its stake in the Chinese lender for at least another year.

Goldman, which holds 4.9 per cent of the Chinese lender, some on behalf of investors, said it would sell no more than 20 per cent of that stake before April next year, even though the lock-up for its shares ends in April and October this year. Its stake is worth about $8.75bn at current prices.

“Goldman Sachs does not need to raise cash as a firm so we see no pressure to sell a large stake at this time,” said Michael Evans, vice-chairman of Goldman. “We want to demonstrate our commitment to ICBC given the uncertainty in the market.”

ICBC said Allianz, which holds nearly 2 per cent of the Chinese lender, and American Express, which owns 0.4 per cent, had also expressed willingness to “remain long-term partners of ICBC”, but had made no commitments on how long they would hold shares.

Goldman's comments came as ICBC, the world's largest financial institution by market capitalisation, yesterday reported a 35.2 per cent rise in full-year net profit to Rmb111bn ($16.2bn).