Temasek buys shares in CCB for $2.8bn

Singaporean state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings has purchased 4.4 billion shares in China Construction Bank (601939.SH, 0939.HK) for a total of US$2.8 billion, increasing its total stake in the bank to 8.1% from 6.27%, Bloomberg reported citing a filing with the Hong Kong Exchange yesterday. The Singaporean company had pared its holdings in CCB just eight weeks prior, when it sold US$154.12 million of stock at US$0.8 a share. The stake was being sold by Bank of America (BoA: BAC.NYSE), which had agreed to sell about half its stake in the Chinese lender for US$8.3 billion to bolster capital. In a separate statement yesterday, CCB said it had extended an agreement to work together with BoA on wealth management, retail and corporate operations, and investment banking until December 2016.