Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Toronto, is among a group of investors that acquired a combined 17% stake in Postal Savings Bank of China, the country’s largest bank by branches and customers.
The board, which manages the assets of the C$272.9 billion ($204 billion) Canada Pension Plan, Ottawa, invested 3.2 billion renminbi ($500 million) for a 7.1% share in the bank, CPPIB said in a news release.
Postal Savings Bank raised 45 billion renminbi in the sale of the 17% stake.
Along with CPPIB, nine other investors were in the group, including the S$266 billion ($188 billion) Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd., a Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund; J.P. Morgan Chase; UBS Group; China Life Insurance and the World Bank’s International Finance Group, according to a news release from Postal Savings Bank.
The bank operates more than 40,000 branches covering 98% of Chinese counties, with a total customer base of 500 million, J.P. Morgan said in a separate news release.
