China Yanks In Red Carpet

买中资银行的股份当然不容易，但出手这些股份更要难得多。中国银行监管机构表示，将把海外投资者持有中资银行股份的锁定期从现行的3年延长至5年。这样的举动可能会给中国企业的潜在资金来源泼上一盆冷水。即使是在好年景，5年的锁定期对很多投资者来说也是过长了。当然，这可能正是中国监管部门想要达到的效果。此举表明中国对外国投资者的态度进一步强硬。它这样做也有一定的理由。三年前当很多西方金融机构首次战略持股中资银行时，对中国银行业的信心被视为对双方都有相当大的好处。这些持股使中资银行在首次公开募股(IPO)前获得了信用，也让西方银行获得了一个途径来利用中国有获利潜力的巨大市场。如今，信贷危机的肆虐令西方银行慌手慌脚地退出投资。这种做法让北京难以接受。陆续退出的银行在这个过程中赚得了丰厚的利润，而西方“专家”分享技术和实践经验的计划如今看起来就像信贷泡沫期间做出的其他很多承诺一样成为泡影了。监管机构发出的新信息很清楚：如果你想投资中国银行业，北京将会确保你的确是着眼长远。显然，持有工商银行5%股份的高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group)明白这点，所以它上周煞费苦心地着重谈论它同意延长所持股份中80%部分的锁定期，避而不提另一个决定，即一旦获准就尽快出手剩余股份。不错，现在并不是说有着大把钞票的外国金融机构正排着长队等着进行投资。就算是如此，中国也不会再给外资银行“红地毯”式的待遇了。Andrew Peaple相关阅读中国延长银行境外投资者持股锁定期 2009-04-01高盛同意延长所持工行股份锁定期 2009-03-26 本文涉及股票或公司document.write (truthmeter('2009年04月03日10:14', '532424.BY'));Godrej Consumer Products Ltd.总部地点：印度(India)上市地点：孟买股票代码：GOCP


Buying a stake in a Chinese bank certainly isn't easy, but getting out of that stake just got a whole lot harder.China's banking regulator has said it will extend the lockup period on shares owned by overseas investors to five years, from the current three years.A move like this could discourage potential sources of capital for China's companies. Even in good times, a five-year lockup period would be a stretch for many investors.That, of course, may be the point.This is a further hardening of Chinese attitudes to foreign investors. In this case, there is some justification.As recently as three years ago, when a number of Western financial institutions first took strategic stakes in Chinese banks, confidence in China's banking sector was seen as a considerable bonus for both sides.The stakes gave the Chinese banks credibility ahead of initial public offerings, while giving Western banks a way to tap China's potentially lucrative, and certainly huge, market.Now, the ravages of the credit crunch have Western banks exiting their investments with unseemly haste.That hasn't gone down too well in Beijing. The exiting banks have made tidy profits in the process, while plans for the Western 'experts' to share technology and know-how now look like so many other promises made during the credit bubble.So the new message is clear: If you're going to invest in China's banking sector, Beijing will see to it that you commit long-term.Clearly, Goldman Sachs Group got the message, hence the pains it took last week to focus on its agreement to extend the lockup on 80% of its 5% stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, skirting over its decision to offload the rest of its stake as quickly as it was allowed.True, it isn't as though there is a long queue of foreign financial institutions with cash to invest anywhere right now. Even if there were, China isn't giving foreign banks the red carpet treatment anymore.Andrew Peaple