KWM has advised Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on the sale of its remaining approximately 5% shareholding in Bank of Hangzhou Co., Ltd (HZB) for RMB 4.3 billion (approximately A$940 million). The buyer is New China Life Insurance Co., Ltd, a Beijing-headquartered life insurance company dual listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HZB is a commercial bank based in Hangzhou, China is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The KWM team was led by cross-border M&A Partner Jonathan Grant and China Securities Partner Jiang Zhihui, with support from Tom Harrison, Juncheng Liu, Jing Wang, Gordon Yen, Diqing Wang, Lirao Feng, Yue Ge and Tiffany Cao. Tax advice was provided by Tony Dong, Alice Zhang and Judith Taylor.
Commenting on the sale Partner Jonathan Grant said:
“We were delighted to advise CBA on this strategic transaction, following on from our work advising CBA on its earlier A$1.8bn sale of shares in HZB in 2022.”
The transaction completed on 9 June 2025.
The KWM lead team previously assisted CBA on various other strategic cross-border transactions, including:
- The sale of a 10% shareholding in HZB to two entities majority-owned by the Hangzhou Municipal Government for RMB 8.275 billion (approximately A$1.8 billion);
- The sale of its 37.5% equity interest in Chinese life insurer BoCommLife Insurance Company Limited to MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc for RMB 4.325 billion (approximately A$886 million); and
- The sale of 15 Chinese county banks to Qilu Bank Co., Ltd (QLB) in exchange for shares in QLB (another commercial bank listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange).
