China’s Citic Bank is in talks to take a stake in Bear Stearns, a senior Communist party official revealed yesterday.

在中共十七大中央金融系统代表团讨论会上，中国银监会(CBRC)副主席蒋定之不经意间宣布了中信银行的收购意图。

Jiang Dingzhi, vice-chairman of the China Banking¹ Regulatory Commission, casually² announced Citic’s intentions during a presentation on the government’s achievements to the country’s top financial officials at the 17th Communist Party Congress in Beijing.

中信银行董事长、中信集团公司副董事长常振明拒绝透露更多具体内容，但他没有否认上述言论，并在会后表示：“（谈判）目前尚未取得实质性进展。”

Chang Zhenming, director of Citic Bank and vice-chairman of its parent group, refused to give any further details but did not deny the comments and said after the meeting: “There has been no substantive³ progress [in negotiations⁴].”

昨日的这些言论首次正式证实了中信银行希望购入贝尔斯登的股权。纽约市场午盘，这家美国投资银行的股价上涨1.6%，至122.63美元。

Yesterday’s comments were the first official confirmation⁵ that Citic wants to buy a stake in Bear. The US investment bank’s shares rose 1.6 per cent to $122.63 by midday in New York.

自贝尔斯登今年夏季受到信贷紧缩的冲击以来，有关该银行将引入一家少数股权投资者的猜测便日益升温。由于积极参与了美国抵押担保证券市场的投资，贝尔斯登第三季度收益下降了61%。

Speculation⁶ about a possible minority investor⁷ in Bear has mounted since it was battered⁸ by the summer credit squeeze which, because of the bank’s heavy exposure to the US mortgage-backed securities market, led to a 61 per cent drop in third-quarter earnings⁹.

此外，旗下资产管理部门经营的两只与抵押贷款相关的对冲基金在今年夏季倒闭，也让贝尔斯登陷入了尴尬处境。

Bear also suffered the embarrassing collapse¹⁰ this summer of two mortgage-related hedge funds run by its asset management unit.

中国的一位银行人士表示，贝尔斯登去年曾与中国建设银行(CCB)就可能的合作进行了谈判，但由于一些中国高级官员的反对，谈判最终破裂。这些官员感到自己在谈判过程中被忽略了。

Last year Bear held talks with China Construction Bank about a potential tie-up, but negotiations fell apart due to opposition¹¹ from senior Chinese officials who felt left out of the process, according to one Chinese banker.

主持那些谈判的显然也是常振明，他当时担任建行行长。谈判内容包括建行购入贝尔斯登的可转换债券，这些债券可转换成贝尔斯登不超过20%的股权。

Those negotiations were also apparently¹² led by Mr Chang, who was president of CCB at the time, and involved the Chinese bank buying convertible¹³ bonds that could be translated into an equity¹⁴ stake of up to 20 per cent in Bear.

在经过一轮重组和首次公开发行(IPO)后，多数中国大型银行目前都拥有充沛的现金。今年早些时候，中信银行在上海进行了IPO，筹资54亿美元。同时，中国政府一直积极鼓励国内银行购入国际金融机构的股权。

Most big Chinese banks are flush with cash after a spate¹⁵ of restructurings and initial public offerings. Citic raised $5.4bn in an IPO in Shanghai earlier this year. The Chinese government, meanwhile, has been actively¹⁶ encouraging banks to buy stakes in international institutions.