Standard Bank Group Ltd, Africa's largest lender, announced yesterday that it would sell a 20 percent stake to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) for 36.7 billion rand ($5.46 billion) in what is China's largest overseas investment.

More than 95 percent of Standard Bank's shareholders voted in favor of the deal, said a Bloomberg report, citing lawyer Vincent Maleka and chairman Derek Cooper, who chaired the shareholders' meeting in Johannesburg yesterday.

ICBC and Standard Bank agreed earlier that the former would take 10 percent of the new shares issued by the latter, and buy another 10 percent from shareholders.

"We are very glad with the result," Wang Zhenning, spokesman for ICBC, told China Daily yesterday, adding that the bank's shareholders will vote on the deal on December 13. He declined to elaborate.

ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, is paying 120.29 rand ($18.27) per share in cash, 14 percent more than Standard Bank's share price on October 22, the day before the company said it was in talks.

The sale is expected to fund expansion in South Africa for Standard Bank, which owns 951 branches in 18 African countries and over 100 outside the continent.

It will also help develop ICBC's overseas business, which is eventually targeted to rise to 10 percent from the current 3 percent, especially in emerging markets, Chairman Jiang Jianqing told a media conference in October.

Jiang said that the partnership with Standard Bank will help ICBC develop a comprehensive business model besides retail banking as more than half of Standard Bank's profits come from non-interest income.

"We believe Standard Bank is an ideal partner for us," Jiang said. "On the one hand, trade between the two countries is booming, which will bring greater business for us, and on the other, the bank itself is a market leader in Africa and will bring us financial benefits."

Trade between China and the African continent swelled 40 percent last year to $55.5 billion, making China Africa's third largest trading partner.

(China Daily December 4, 2007)