Hopu invests in BoC shares

Hopu Investment Management Co., a private equity fund run by Goldman Sachs’ China partner, Fang Fenglei, bought about 30% of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) US$2.3 billion stake in Bank of China (BoC), Bloomberg reported. The purchase was Hopu’s second investment since raising US$2.5 billion from investors including Goldman Sachs and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings in 2008. BoC’s Hong Kong-listed shares have dropped 44% since the start of 2008. RBS sold its BoC stake earlier this week. The Li Ka-Shing Foundation, Bank of America and UBS have also recently sold some or all of their stakes in Chinese banks.