Tuesday November 11, 03:23 AM
China Merchants says Wing Lung will pay off in 3-5 yrs
BEIJING, Nov 11 (Reuters) - China's sixth largest lender China Merchants Bank Co (600036.SS - news) 's acquisition of
Wing Lung Bank (0096.HK - news) will pay off in three to five years, a top executive said in an interview published on Tuesday. China Merchants Bank bought control of Wing Lung this year for $4.7 billion, giving it a presence in Hong Kong, a gateway for foreign investment into China.
The integration of Wing Lung has been going well and investors of China Merchants Bank will find the deal worthwhile down the road, Zhu Qi, the chief executive of Wing Lung Bank, was quoted by the official China Securities Journal as saying.
'I suggest China Merchants Bank's investors look at the deal as a strategic investment,' Zhu said. 'They will find it valuable in the future.'
Zhu, who is also the vice president of China Merchants Bank, said Wing Lung's results had been affected by the global economy, but its impact on the earnings of Merchants Bank was limited, due to its smaller size and sound non-performing loan ratio, which was less than 0.5 percent.
(Reporting by Michael Wei; Editing by Kirby Chien) Keywords: CHINAMERCHANTS WINGLUNG/MERGER
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