2007年12月20日 苏格兰皇家银行拟收购苏州信托19.9%股权

苏格兰皇家银行(Royal Bank of Scotland)试图扩大在中国的投资银行业务，正考虑投资于第二家中资机构。

Royal Bank of Scotland is considering investing in a second Chinese institution as the banking group seeks to build up its investment banking operations in the country.

一位知情人士表示，苏格兰皇家银行正与江苏的苏州信托(Suzhou Trust)洽谈，计划收购其19.9%的股权，并已将相关方案提交监管机构批准。然而，最终敲定协议可能需要一年时间。

RBS is discussing taking a 19.9 per cent stake in Suzhou Trust, which is based in China’s Jiangsu province, and has asked regulators for approval, a person familiar with the matter said. However, any agreement could take up to a year to finalise.

两年多以前，苏格兰皇家银行牵头的一个财团以31亿美元收购了中国银行(Bank of China) 10%的股权。中国银行是中国最大的银行之一。尽管这笔投资当时遭到了投资者的尖锐批评，但在中国银行上市后，随着其股价的飙升，苏格兰皇家银行所持股份的价值也大幅增长。

The talks come more than two years after RBS led a consortium that acquired a 10 per cent stake in Bank of China, one of the country’s largest lenders, for $3.1bn. Though the investment at the time faced heavy criticism from investors, the value of RBS’s stake has soared with Bank of China’s shares following its stock market flotation.

苏格兰皇家银行利用与中国银行的合作，已经在中国成立了一个信用卡合资公司。两家银行还在携手合作，为中国内地富有的投资者提供高端私人银行服务。

RBS has used its co-operation with Bank of China to launch a credit-card joint venture, and the two lenders are also working together to provide high-end private banking services to wealthy mainland investors.

然而，人们认为，苏格兰皇家银行投资苏州信托背后的动机，是为了扩大其在中国内地的投资银行业务。苏州信托主要为政府基础设施项目提供融资。以前曾有报道称，苏州信托与美国投资银行集团摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)进行过洽谈。

However, the investment in Suzhou Trust is thought to be motivated by RBS’s desire to expand its investment banking operations in mainland China. Suzhou mainly provides funding for government infrastructure projects. Suzhou was previously reported to have held talks with Morgan Stanley, the US investment banking group.

前不久，苏格兰皇家银行牵头的财团刚刚以710亿欧元（合1020亿美元）获得了荷兰银行(ABN Amro)的控制权。该财团此后将分拆荷兰银行，苏格兰皇家银行将获得荷兰银行的批发银行部门及其亚洲业务。

News of the move comes shortly after a Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium took control of ABN Amro, the Dutch banking group, with a €71bn ($102bn) break-up bid. The move will see RBS take control of ABN Amro’s wholesale banking division as well as its operations in Asia.

本月早些时候，苏格兰皇家银行首席执行官弗雷德?古德温爵士(Sir Fred Goodwin)公布，该行的私人股本贷款和资产因美国次贷危机而出现的减损值低于预期。

Sir Fred Goodwin, RBS’s chief executive, earlier this month unveiled lower-than-expected write-downs on private equity loans and assets hit by the meltdown in the US subprime mortgage market.