Bank of Nova Scotia to buy 19.99-% stake in Bank of Guangzhou for $735 mn

Bank of Nova Scotia today said that it will buy a 19.99-per cent stake in Bank of Guangzhou (BGZ) for about C$719 million ($735 million), the latest lender to invest in a Chinese bank before its IPO.

State owned BGZ is not a publicly-listed bank and has C$24 billion in assets and C$16 billion in customer deposits at the end of June 2011, BGZ is the 29th largest bank in mainland China with a network of 84 branches and offices centered in Guangzhou, serving a significant retail deposit account base and also focusing on providing corporate and treasury services to companies in China.

"The Bank of Guangzhou is a strong, prosperous and well managed financial institution.  With this investment we can build on Scotiabank's international presence and experience in China and combine our core strengths in wealth management, personal and commercial operations with our new partners," said Rick Waugh, president and CEO of Scotiabank.

"Asia is a region of strategic importance for Scotiabank and enhancing our investment in China supports our long term growth strategy," he added.

Toronto-based Scotiabank has been in China for the last 29 years and has the largest presence in China of any Canadian bank.

With China's strong emerging middle class and growing purchasing power, Scotiabank hopes this investment will put it in a solid position to expand its presence in the country by developing in the retail banking and wealth management sector.

Scotiabank also holds a 14.8-per cent stake in Bank of Xi'an which will increase to 18.1 per cent pending regulatory approval. In China, the lender has operations in Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shanghai, as well as in Hong Kong and Taipei.

With assets more than C$567 billion as of 31 July 2011 and spent around $2 billion in overseas acquisitions in the last five years, Scotiabank has around 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world.