Guangdong Development Bank completes share transfer

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The Guangdong Development Bank (GDB) has announced the completion of its share transfer to new shareholders including the Citigroup. So far, all the fund for nearly 85.6 percent of GDB's shares has been transacted into the GDB's account, a company source confirmed Tuesday. In a addition to Citigroup, other shareholders are China Life Insurance Group and China Guodian Corp, respectively the nation's largest insurer and major electricity distributor. Each of the three companies hold 20 percent of the GDB's shares respectively. The other three institutes hold about the remaining 25 percent. The Citigroup-led consortium of new shareholders signed a purchase agreement of 24.27 billion yuan (3.03 billion U.S. dollars) with the GDB last month to acquire nearly 85.6 percent of the bank, ending a lengthy battle with French bank Societe Generale and China's second largest insurer Ping An Group. The GDB opened a provisional shareholder meeting on Monday afternoon. More than 200 representatives attended the meeting and elected the 16-member directorate of the bank. Also on Monday, the China Banking Regulatory Commission approved the GDB's application for foreign shareholders, said a statement on the commission's website.