On September 26, ICBC Financial Assets Investment Limited (hereinafter referred to as “ICBC Investment”), ICBC’s specialized institution to implement debt-equity swap, opened in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. In addition, ICBC signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Jiangsu provincial government in Nanjing. Li Qiang, secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Wu Zhenglong, Governor of Jiangsu, Yi Huiman, Chairman of ICBC, Gu Shu, President of ICBC, and leaders from the NDRC, Ministry of Finance, the People’s Bank of China, CSRC, CIRC, Nanjing and Jiangsu, as well as representatives from enterprises and partners attended the signing and opening ceremony.

At the ceremony, ICBC Investment also signed a tripartite cooperation agreement with the Nanjing municipal government and the Administrative Committee of Jiangbei District of Nanjing; and signed a cooperation framework agreement debt-equity swap of RMB 83 billion with six enterprises including China Nuclear E&C Group, Jiangsu Communications Holding Co., Ltd., Guangxi Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd., Nanjing Yangzi State Owned Investment Group, Huafa Group, and Fasten Group.

The establishment of ICBC Investment is an important measure for ICBC to act in the spirit of the National Financial Work Conference and promote the supply-side structural reform. As one of the first specialized institutions of Chinese commercial banks to implement debt-equity swap, ICBC Investment has a registered capital of RMB 12 billion, becoming the subsidiary of ICBC Group with the largest registered capital. After opening, ICBC Investment will help enterprises reduce leverage, lower costs, raise efficiency, deepen reform and develop tailored debt-equity swap plans to enhance capital strength and governance efficiency.

As of September 26, ICBC has signed market-oriented debt-equity swap agreements with 28 enterprises for RMB 345.5 billion. For the next step, ICBC will rely on the platform of ICBC Investment to implement more market-oriented debt-equity swap projects.