Completion of Closings by Strategic Investors for Shares of China Construction Bank held by Central SAFE Investments Ltd.

 

Bank of America Corporation (“BOA”) and Asia Financial Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“AFH”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited (“Temasek”) recently completed their initial closings to purchase shares of China Construction Bank Corporation (“CCB”) held by Central SAFE Investments Ltd., formerly known as China SAFE Investments Ltd. (“Huijin”), pursuant to investment agreements executed as of June 17, 2005 and July 1, 2005, respectively. Huijin has received a total of US$3.966 billion for the purchases of its shares, of which BOA paid US$2.5 billion while AFH paid US$1.466 billion.

Prior to executing the investment agreements, BOA and Temasek conducted due diligence regarding CCB. CCB has executed a strategic assistance agreement with BOA covering areas such as corporate governance, risk management, consumer banking, credit cards, global treasury services, information technology and human resources management. CCB has negotiated with Temasek on the details of a strategic assistance agreement and cooperation of the parties. The completion of the initial closings indicates that the strategic investors may commence their assistance to, and cooperation with CCB.

After the closings, BOA and AFH hold 9.0% and 5.1%, respectively, of equity securities of CCB.