China Awards 2009: Deals of the year

(This article is part of the 2009 China Awards coverage. Winners will be announced on September 23 2009 at the JW Marriott Tomorrow Square, Shanghai.)

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China Merchants Bank/Wing Lung Banko

Why: Not only was this the largest M&A deal in the banking sector for seven years but it also reflects an emerging trend of Chinese banks acquiring overseas ones. Beating off competition from a number of other banks, both Chinese and international, China Merchants Bank (CMB) had to overcome more regulatory hurdles than its rival bidders. And as Wing Lung Bank (WLB) has branches in the US and the Cayman Islands, as well as China, stock exchanges and authorities in each jurisdiction presented diverse regulatory requirements that posed significant challenges to completion of the deal. For example in Hong Kong, where WLB has 35 branches, the sale triggered a mandatory general offer that had significant Takeover Code implications.

China Minmetals/OZ Minerals

Why: This deal involved the acquisition by China's largest metals trader, Minmetals, of certain subsidiaries and assets of the OZ Minerals group, including various mines in Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and Laos, as well as other exploration assets in Australia, Canada and other Asian jurisdictions. The deal was initially to be conducted by way of Scheme of Arrangement for OZ Minerals as a whole, but this was not able to proceed due to Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board objecting to Minmetals' acquisition of the Prominent Hill mine on national security grounds. As a consequence of the deal, Minmetals gains control of the world's second-largest zinc mine and supplies of copper, gold and nickel.