BOC: No Rothschild Deal
WSJ.com APRIL 3, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123866965606482017.html
BEIJING -- Bank of China Ltd. dropped its plan to buy a 20% stake in French private bank Cie. Financière Edmond de Rothschild, the latest sign of China's aversion to investing in Western financial institutions amid the global financial crisis.
Bank of China, the country's third-largest listed bank by assets, said Thursday that it abandoned the planned €236 million ($312 million) investment after the deal failed to win approval from China's banking regulator before a deadline expired. The companies had extended the deadline to March 31 after the original Dec. 31 cutoff passed without word from the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
"We have no plan to bid for Rothschild again at present," said Wang Zhaowen, a spokesman for Bank of China, which is majority-owned by the Chinese government. Mr. Wang said the Chinese lender hopes to continue cooperating with Rothschild in other ways. He said it doesn't rule out renegotiating the deal.
Rothschild in Paris didn't respond to requests for comment. The banking regulator also didn't respond to a query.
Bank of China had hoped to gain expertise in asset management as well as distribution in Europe through the proposed deal.
Chinese authorities have turned cautious about overseas investments in the financial sector amid the financial turmoil. Investments by Chinese institutions in Morgan Stanley, Barclays PLC and other Western financial companies have plunged in value, prompting public criticism of the government.
The failed Rothschild deal "offers the latest sign that Beijing is unwilling to see local firms acquire overseas financial assets," said Shi Jianxun, a finance professor at Tongji University in Shanghai.
—Rose Yu and Victoria Ruan
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Rothschild，宋鸿兵《货币战争》一书中提到的罗斯柴尔德家族即与此次中行收购交易对象有关，中行(Bank of China, BOC)原欲购入该法国银行二成的股权，但临时放弃计划，显示了中国在全球金融危机中对投资西方金融机构的态度转变。
中行是国内以资产计第三大上市银行，对此项决定的解释是自去年底一直未得到银监会的同意或明示。文中drop、abandon、plan、fail to win表明BOC做出过很多努力，但将责任归于CBRC，这里使用了一系列的词，如aversion、approval、deadline expired、extended to、cutoff passed without word from，给人一种CBRC高高在上，但对于机构投资并不积极鼓励的感觉。而在下文采访回应时，发言人又一次提及plan，一方面对应上文的investment plan，一方面又在文字上强调这（目前无意竞购）仅是计划，为将来出现变化留下铺垫(the Chinese lender hopes to continue cooperating with Rothschild in other ways...doesn't rule out renegotiating the deal)。由此判断，东西方在银行业金融机构上的接触可视为金融斗争的表面反映，G20毕会后中西双方在利益争夺上仍有进一步恶化的可能，但不会放弃和谈的希望。
罗斯柴尔德方面对此未置任何评论，银管当局亦未对质询有所回应，由此(query与request不同，前者更激烈，也可视为交易事件外的人士对监管当局的不满)见，外界对于两家银行的金融互动有相当的疑惑，也从反面证明了此次金融行动有一些不同寻常的地方。
中行海外投资主要目的在于获得资产管理经验和对欧洲业务的拓展，但在金融风暴的影响下，以及中国公众对中国机构投资者在摩根·斯坦利、英国巴克莱等西方金融机构投资活动中失利表示愤怒之后，中国当局对海外投资变得十分谨慎。上海同济大学的金融学教授认为这（罗斯柴尔德交易计划的撤回）是北京不希望看到本土企业收购海外资产的迹象。文中借被采访者之口说明了一种非愿意(unwilling)，表明中行与罗氏交易背后仍然存在进一步可能，因为：1）意愿是可以更改的，这仍不是最终裁决；2）银监会只是未发表明确的意见(without word from CBRC)，也就为将来某些双边条件满足后继续交易留下续谈的可能和准备；3）文中数处用词似乎表明中行在整个投资过程中的努力，而障碍完全来自监管部门，这就向被投资方表明了心迹，为将来时机成熟再投资留下了一个好印象。
ref
http://chinese.wsj.com/gb/20090402/bch140351.asp