Rabobank NV, the Dutch banking group, has pared back its plans to acquire 24.9% of Hangzhou Cooperative Bank of China in partnership with the World Bank's International Finance Corp, and now intends to secure a combined 14.9% stake, the Wall Street Journal reported. Orlando Wang, Rabobank's general manager for China, said the adjustment followed discussions with the bank and banking regulators and was not because of any problems found during the due-diligence review of Hangzhou's books. "We are interested in increasing our stake if there is an opportunity later," he said. Wang declined to confirm how much Rabobank and IFC had agreed to pay for their stake, but Hangzhou Cooperative Bank's website showed its assets totaled about US$4 billion at the end of 2005.
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