摩根士丹利和中国建设银行将组建资产管理合资公司

Morgan Stanley, China Construction Bk Ink Asset Mgmt JV

U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley (MWD) and state-run China Construction Bank (Q.CCB) Tuesday finalized an agreement to set up a joint venture asset management company to handle 4.3 billion yuan ($1=CNY8.28) of the local bank's nonperforming loans.

The new asset management company builds on an existing landmark partnership between the two firms - China International Capital Corp., China's first joint venture investment bank.

CICC will be the joint venture's official adviser on the loan disposal project.

The asset management joint venture marks a breakthrough in efforts by Morgan Stanley to buy a portion of China Construction Bank's bad debt after months of delays due to regulatory barriers.

China's authorities have so far preferred foreign investors to acquire debt through four asset management companies set up in 1999 to dispose of CNY1.4 trillion in loans transferred from the country's four major state-run banks.

As part of a trial of the new arrangement, the joint venture asset management company will focus on nonperforming loans held by five China Construction Bank branches concentrated in the country's industrialized eastern seaboard.

China Construction Bank is considered to have the lowest level of bad loans among the "Big Four" state-owned banks. Its nonperforming loan ratio stood at 13.1% at the end of May, down 2.59 percentage points from the end of 2002.

"This is the first project of its kind and the first time for Morgan Stanley to acquire nonperforming assets from a Chinese state-owned commercial bank on a one-on-one basis in China's nonperforming assets market," the companies said in a joint statement.


"The signing of the agreement with Morgan Stanley is a key move in helping the bank achieve its 2003 target (of reducing its nonperforming loans ratio by 4%)."

The deal marks the U.S. investment bank's second foray into China's bad debt disposal after a Morgan Stanley-led consortium received approval in March to buy CNY10.8 billion in nonperforming loans from China Huarong Asset Management Co.

Huarong is responsible for bad loans transferred from China's largest commercial bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China.

China Cinda Asset Management Co., one of the other four asset management companies, is responsible for loans transferred from China Construction Bank, but has been effectively sidestepped by the latest Morgan Stanley deal.

While the CNY1.4 trillion in bad loans transferred to the asset management companies are the legacy of decades of state-directed policy lending, China's state-run banks continue to wrestle with nonperforming assets still on their books.

Clearing that backlog of bad loans is regarded as a major step toward turning China's dysfunctional financial sector into an engine for future economic growth.

A new industry regulator, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, has also targeted reduction of the state bank sector's nonperforming loans as a top priority.

But poor internal risk controls and little experience in asset management has prompted the banks to look to foreign institutions for help in recovering some of those loans. Until now, huge provisioning for bad loans has been the four banks main strategy for meeting a central bank deadline of reducing the average bad loan ratio to 15% by 2005.
摩根士丹利和中国建设银行将组建资产管理合资公司

美国投资银行摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley, MWD)和中国国有银行中国建设银行(China Construction Bank, Q.CCB)周二就双方设立资产管理合资公司一事达成协议，合资公司将负责处置建设银行的总额人民币43亿元(1美元=8.28元)的不良贷款。

新的资产管理公司将依靠双方现有的合资公司－中国国际金融公司(China International Capital Corp.)来开展业务。中国国际金融公司是中国首家合资投资银行，该公司将就不良贷款的处置向合资公司提供咨询。

在因监管问题而延期数月后，该协议的达成标志著，摩根士丹利收购中国建设银行部分不良贷款的努力取得了一大突破。

到目前为止，中国政府更倾向于让外国投资者通过1999年成立的4家国有资产管理公司收购中国的银行不良贷款。当时共有来自中国四大国有银行的人民币1.4万亿元的不良贷款被转给上述四家资产管理公司。

作为项目试点，合资资产管理公司将把业务重点放在中国建设银行华东沿海地区的5个分行的不良贷款上。

中国建设银行的不良贷款比率被认为是四大国有银行中最低的。截至5月底，其不良贷款比率为13.1%，较2002年底下降了2.59个百分点。

中国建设银行与摩根士丹利在一份联合声明中表示，本次尝试开创了不良资产处理业务的新篇章，这也是摩根士丹利首次以一对一的方式从中国国有商业银行手中购买不良资产。

与摩根士丹利签署该协议，是建设银行为了在2003年将不良贷款比率降低4%所采取的一项关键措施。

此举标志著美国投资银行第二次大举进军中国不良资产处理业务。今年3月，以摩根士丹利为首的财团获得批准，从中国华融资产管理公司(China Huarong Asset Management Co.)购买价值人民币108亿元的不良贷款。

华融资产管理公司负责处置中国最大的商业银行中国工商银行剥离的不良贷款。

四家资产管理公司之一的中国信达资产管理公司(China Cinda Asset Management Co.)负责处置中国建设银行剥离的不良贷款，但该公司并未参与本次与摩根士丹利的合作。

中国四大国有商业银行把几十年来由于政策性借贷造成的不良贷款剥离至资产管理公司，这些不良贷款规模达人民币1.4万亿元，但四大国有商业银行仍受到帐上大笔不良贷款的拖累。

彻底解决不良贷款的遗留问题被认为是将中国低效的金融业转变成经济未来增长引擎的一项重大措施。

中国银行业监督管理委员会(China Banking Regulatory Commission)也表示要优先解决降低国有商业银行不良贷款这一问题。

然而，由于内部风险控制机制不健全，以及在资产管理方面缺乏经验，促使国有商业银行在回收某些不良贷款上寻求外国机构的帮助。中国央行要求商业银行在2005年以前将不良贷款平均比例降至15%，而迄今为止，提取巨额拨备是四大国有商业银行所采取的主要策略。

China Construction Bank to cooperate with Morgan Stanley on NPLs - report

China Construction Bank (CCB) has announced a deal with investment bank Morgan Stanley to cooperate on disposing of the state bank's high level of non-performing loans (NPLs), Xinhua news agency reported, citing a CCB official.

Under the deal, a pilot project will be launched in which the state bank and Morgan Stanley will acquire NPLs and interest with a book value of 4.3 bln yuan, the news agency quoted the official as saying.

The partnership, which the official said would eventually become a full joint venture, will then try to recover at least 30 pct of the face value of the bad assets.

Xinhua quoted the official as saying the two parties will establish a separate organization to manage and dispose of the assets. It said Morgan Stanley would also provide CCB with professional training on NPL investment management and on bad asset disposal.

The Financial Times, meanwhile, quoted executives at the banks as saying that Morgan Stanley was expected to stump up cash amounting to 70 pct of the NPL purchase, while China Construction Bank contributes 30 pct in the form of assets.

The deal is a further move by the CCB to reduce its NPL ratio of 15.36 pct - calculated using international accounting standards - by 4.0 pct this year. The bank ultimately aims to become the first state-owned bank to list on the domestic stock exchanges.

Liu Mingkang, head of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said in May that the big four state-owned banks -- China Construction Bank, the Bank of China, the Industrial and the Commercial Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China -- have set a target of reducing their NPL ratios by 3-4 percentage points this year.


(1 usd = 8.3 yuan)
建行与大摩合作处理不良贷款

新华社引述中国建设银行一位负责人称，建行已与摩根斯坦利签订了合作协议，合作处理建行的高额不良贷款。

该负责人称，按照协议，建行和大摩将首先就收购账面价值43亿人民币的不良资产进行试点，建行和大摩最终将建立合资公司，并将尽量收回不良资产面值的30％以上。


这位负责人透露，双方将建立单独的部门负责管理和处置这些不良资产，大摩将为建行提供不良贷款投资管理和处理的专业培训。


《金融时报》引述银行业人士称，大摩将提供收购不良资产所需70％的现金，建行将以资产出资30％。


这个协议是建行降低不良贷款率计划的一部分。按照国际会计准则，建行的不良贷款率为15.36％，该行计划今年将不良贷款率降低4.0个百分点，最终的目标是成为首家在国内股市上市的国有商业银行。


中国银监会主席刘明康5月份称，中国四大国有商业银行今年的目标是将不良贷款率再降低3-4个百分点。中国四大国有商业银行是指中国建设银行、中国工商银行、中国银行和中国农业银行。