Bank of China International
Bank of China, the most international of Beijing’s big-four state lenders, put down an important marker in 1998 when it founded BOC International. While wholly owned by its parent, the outfit was based in Hong Kong and international in nature and focus.
It assembled an award-winning research team and hired investment bankers with plenty of moxie. Where BOC International continues to excel is in its ability to secure valued and valuable roles on chunky Hong Kong stock offerings by leading mainland firms.
It was a bookrunner on China Literature’s heavily oversubscribed $1.1 billion initial stock sale in November 2017 – a deal that helped to put the bank in the top 10 for Asia ex-Japan investment banking fee revenues last year. The IPO proved so hot that shares in the e-book unit of digital giant Tencent rocketed 82% on the first day of trading.
Its M&A division is increasingly influential in Hong Kong and mainland China and is set to become a global force as it leverages to the full its international network of 55 subsidiaries and partnerships with financial institutions.
This is a financial institution that always sees the big picture. In 2017, it signed an agreement with CME Group to expand the international use of China’s currency, the renminbi. And in January 2018, it inked a strategic alliance with Jefferies to provide investment banking advisory and capital markets services to customers globally.