OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2013. In recent years, ICBC has stood firmly behind the commitment to serve real economy and follow the customers, lending intensive support to excellent Chinese enterprises to stride boldly on the world stage. At the end of 2012, ICBC has supported 70 "going global" projects of these companies, spanning 38 countries in five continents. ICBC has disbursed USD 15.2 billion in loans for Chinese companies engaged in different sectors (resources, energy, machinery, telecommunication, transportation, petrochemical, trade and commerce) to expand overseas.

According to an executive with the Bank, as Chinese companies gather pace to go overseas, there is a huge demand for diversified, integrated services such as corporate finance, investment banking and financial intermediary, in addition to conventional services like deposit, loan and settlement. Nowadays Chinese enterprises "go global" mainly through overseas investment, overseas merger and acquisition (M&A), contracting of foreign projects or international trade. In view of this, ICBC launches a range of unique finance products covering export credit, engineering + finance, investment banking + loan, and overseas M&A loans.

Overseas M&A loans are a case in point. Since 2012, ICBC has provided support to a range of significant overseas M&A projects of Chinese companies - CNOOC's acquisition of Canada Nexen Inc, China Three Gorges Corp's acquisition of Energias de Portugal (EDP), Shandong Heavy Industry's acquisition of Ferretti Yachts, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group's acquisition of German Schwing, Zijin Mining Group's acquisition of Norton Gold, Sany Heavy Industry's acquisition of German Putzmeister, and GCS Capital's acquisition of European Dexia Asset Management. The acquisition of Canada Nexen Inc by CNOOC is the biggest overseas takeover by a Chinese company "going global" as of today. These acquisitions covered many areas (resources, energy, machinery, finance) and posed significant influence in the field.

Meanwhile, ICBC leverages financial services to serve investment. The Bank looks at "going global" opportunities and acts as a go-between for Chinese companies. An example is the syndication arranged by ICBC to mobile operators in India. ICBC assisted Huawei and ZTE to close equipment and maintenance contracts. In Sino-British infrastructure cooperation, ICBC took the initiative to recommend Chinese engineering and construction companies to British side. In winning the contract of rail transport in Sri Lanka, ICBC provided support to the Chinese company to conclude the first overseas engineering contract.