Chinese Banks Put Some Skin The Game - Loan BMW Brilliance Automotive Billions

SHANGHAI December 27, 2003; Dow Jones reported that three Chinese banks have signed a loan agreement with BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd., a bank official said Friday.

The syndicated loan deal includes an eight-year 1.3 billion yuan ($1=CNY8.28) term loan.

The banks, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Guangdong Development Bank, signed the agreement earlier this month, an official at Guangdong Development Bank said.

Apart from the term loan, the agreement also includes a CNY1.0 billion rollover loan and a EUR85 million import guarantee, the official said.

BMW Brilliance Automotive - a joint venture between Germany's Bayerische Motoren Werke AG , Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. and the Shenyang city government in the northeastern Liaoning province - will use the money to expand its factory, purchase spare parts and improve its production capacity, the official said.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. is the financial adviser for the syndicated loan, she added.