U.S. Banks Try Fresh Formulas In Asia

Morgan Stanley has been having control issues in China.

The New York investment bank is negotiating with private equity investors to sell its 34 percent stake in Chinese brokerage giant China International Capital Corp. The deal could generate as much as $1 billion, say reports — a nifty return on the 1995 purchase price of $37 million.

但是摩根的背后到底是什么推动divorce from CICC is its desire to find a more passive partner, say sources. Under China’s rules, foreign investment banks are limited to one joint venture in each business, and they must be the minority owner. Despite owning only one third of CICC, Morgan sought to gain management control, but its partner resisted — a frustrating scenario for a Western bank jockeying for position in China. Selling the CICC stake, however, would pave the way for Morgan to enter into an investment banking joint venture with Shenzhen-based China Fortune Securities, says a source close to the two firms. And the smaller China Fortune has said it would give Morgan management control, although the Chinese firm and its partners would remain the majority stakeholder. Morgan already has an asset management joint venture with China Fortune, set up in 2008, when it bought a 40 percent stake in the joint venture.

Morgan isn’t alone in rethinking its Asian strategy. "Western investment banks that have survived the crisis are reorganizing and implementing new strategies in Asia in order to compete," says Neil Katkov, head of research for research firm Celent.

Since Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008, Allianz SE, American Express, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Royal Bank of Scotland have all sold assets or stakes in Asian financial institutions to come up with cash to shore up finances back home, pay back government bailouts or reposition themselves in Asia.

In spite of the crisis, U.S. financial institutions continue to dominate Asia’s league tables outside Japan, holding four of the top ten slots in equities and five of the top ten in mergers and acquisitions, according to Dealogic.

For some Western banks integrating Asian acquisitions rather than bowing out of Asian ventures has been the biggest challenge lately. In addition to its 5,500 staff in 13 markets in Asia, Morgan now has 300 employees in Australia at its Morgan Stanley Smith Barney unit, a joint venture created when it acquired a 51 percent stake in the Smith Barney brokerage from Citigroup earlier this year. In Japan, Morgan will merge its subsidiary there into a joint venture formed with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which acquired a 20 percent stake in Morgan Stanley for $8.4 billion last year. "Our key initiatives are to build out our domestic platforms in key markets, invest further in wealth management and continue to enhance our collaboration with MUFG," Owen Thomas, CEO of Morgan Stanley Asia, tells亚博赞助欧冠.

Citi is also contending with integration issues in Asia, but the efforts are paying off, says Stephen Bird, Citi’s Asia Pacific CEO. The bank generated $14 billion in revenues from Asia in the 12 months through September 2009, 25 percent of all Citi’s global revenues. "Clients understand our commitment to this region, and this has been demonstrated," Bird says.

香港的一家美国Merrill Lynch来源表示，合并协同效应是在亚洲银行/经纪人踢的。这对最近的交易来说很明显，既不是博菲和美林可以轻松完成，包括建议中国投资公司8.5亿美元购买香港贸易屋贵族集团的15％股份。

与此同时，亚洲公司仍处于追赶模式，但他们正在西部银行竞争对手迈进，抗拒的卡特科夫。他指出，在某些情况下，亚洲公司在台湾，韩国和中国等市场中取代了西方联盟表。“比赛正在升温，”他说。CICC根据Dealogic的第四个问题，在2009年11月18日至11月18日，排名第1号排名第1，筹集了34个问题，筹集了250亿美元。中国北京中信证券是中国最大的经纪市场资本化，自2006年开设投资银行业务以来，在香港聘请了300家银行家。

In a few cases Asian banks have capitalized directly on Western banks’ troubles. In October, Singapore’s Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp. bought the Asian wealth management unit of ING Group for €1 billion ($1.5 billion). The unit came with €11 billion in assets. "We find this a rare opportunity to acquire a quality franchise, which we think will broaden our wealth management business," says Kelvin Quek, head of investor relations at OCBC. "This acquisition wouldn’t have been possible if not for the crisis. ING wouldn’t have sold."