Evergrande buys share in Huaxia Bank

Building models?of Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd in Yichang, Central China's Hubei province, March 18, 2012. [Photo by Ren Weihong/Asianewsphoto]

Chinese property developer Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd said on Friday that it has paid 3.3 billion yuan ($545 million) for a 4.5 percent share in domestic lender Huaxia Bank.

Beijing-based Huaxia Bank is a Shanghai-listed lender that had a net asset of 74.7 billion yuan at the end of 2012. Profit was 12.8 billion yuan in 2012 and 9.2 billion yuan in 2011.

Evergrande said in a statement to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd on Friday that its cooperation with Huaxia Bank will "foster the relationship between the two industries and will enhance both the property development and banking businesses of each of the parties".

Evergrande said it bought Huaxia's shares for market price, which was "fair and reasonable". Huaxia shares closed at 8.12 yuan per share in Shanghai on Friday.

Evergrande is a major developer of large-scale residential and commercial properties in China. Its contracted sales totaled 100.4 billion yuan in 2013, with a goal of 110 billion yuan this year.