bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Wang Xiangwei

High-flying banker Fang Fenglei quits the mainland firm  to help form a joint venture with the US investment giant

Prominent mainland banker Fang Fenglei is leaving his position as head of ICEA Finance Holdings to help form a joint-venture investment bank that involves Goldman Sachs.

A group led by Mr Fang had already submitted an application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to form the joint-venture investment bank, sources said yesterday.

The commission was reviewing the application and a decision was expected towards the end of the year. Should approval be granted, the investment bank could be up and running by March next year.

Goldman was expected to own up to 34 per cent of the venture, the maximum allowed.

This could increase to 49 per cent under China's commitments to the World Trade Organisation to liberalise the banking sector.

ICEA's board approved Mr Fang's resignation as chief executive on Monday.

ICEA is the investment banking arm of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the biggest lender on the mainland.

Mr Fang was replaced by Zhang Xiaoming, a deputy chief executive who formerly was at ICBC's international department.

Mr Fang's departure had been widely expected following reports last month of a possible deal between a consortium led by him and Goldman.

It remained unclear how the new investment bank would be structured, but sources said Mr Fang was backed by a combination of state companies and private investors.

Goldman is keen on the deal as a joint venture would allow it to tap the domestic securities market and help break China International Capital Corp's (CICC) stranglehold on overseas initial public offerings by mainland companies.

CICC, established by China Construction Bank and Morgan Stanley in 1995, was the mainland's first joint-venture investment bank.

It is led by chief executive Levin Zhu Yunlai, son of former premier Zhu Rongji, and has given Morgan Stanley a great deal of leverage over mainland overseas listings.

This will be Mr Fang's fourth foray into the mainland's increasingly competitive investment banking business, following appointments as chief executive of ICEA, Bank of China's BOC International and CICC.

A former People's Liberation Army soldier, Mr Fang, 51, is considered the mainland's leading deal-maker.

He was recently voted one of the top 10 most influential people in China's securities market by Finance Asia.

At CICC, he played a key role in bringing China Mobile to market in Hong Kong and the United States during the height of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Mr Fang was also a prominent player in CICC's efforts to secure mandates for PetroChina, Sinopec Corp and China Unicom - some of the mainland's largest companies now listed in Hong Kong and New York.

The pending deal by Mr Fang and Goldman has also prompted other leading western investment banks to consider joint ventures with mainland companies.

Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have both established teams to study the feasibility of setting up joint-venture investment banks on the mainland.

broad support

Sources say Fang Fenglei is backed by state companies and private investors

Goldman Sachs is keen on the deal as it will allow it to tap the domestic securities market and help break CICC's stranglehold on overseas initial public offerings by mainland firms



ICEA chief joins Goldman team