China's rise as a global economic superpower, the success of its top companies, and its continuing domestic boom is intricately tied to China Development Bank (CDB). This less-than-transparent institution, which is wholly owned by the Chinese government, has become the financial enabler of this nation's growth and is arguably the most powerful bank in the world.
While development banks have long existed to finance political projects, infrastructure, and other initiatives, nothing comes close to CDB in scope.
In China's Superbank, authors Henry Sanderson and Michael Forsythe—both Bloomberg journalists working in Beijing—combine on-the-scene reporting and interviews from across the world with numbers crunched from Chinese bond prospectuses to put CDB in perspective, and help you understand the economic phenomenon that is China.
Along the way, you'll not only become familiar with the growing accomplishments and influence of CDB, but you'll also gain valuable insights into the darker side of this political-financial institution—one that has never had to answer to anyone apart from its state shareholders. You'll also discover how China's seemingly unstoppable banking system could potentially be saddled with bad debt from trillions of yuan invested in projects with questionable economic value both at home and abroad.
Throughout the book, the authors:
Explore CDB's hallmark innovation—the system of local government finance—which has transformed China's landscape in just over a decade by pumping trillions of yuan into various domestic projects
Profile Chen Yuan, the Chairman of CDB since 1998, and discuss how he's been instrumental in reasserting the Communist Party in China's economy, while managing to preserve enough independence from the government to make decent investment decisions and function as a commercially driven institution
Analyze CDB's China-Africa Development Fund—China's largest private equity fund investing in Africa—and its attempts to stimulate manufacturing in Ethiopia, and CDB's lending to Ghana
Address CDB's work to secure a steady flow of oil and gas to China through loans-for-energy deals around the world, particularly to Venezuela
Examine CDB's lines of credit that have helped new Chinese firms in telecom and alternative energy win significant global projects, as well as how the bank is developing a new form of private equity financing through CDB Capital.
As China's influence continues to grow around the world, many people are asking how far it will extend. China's Superbank addresses this vital question, looking at the institution at the heart of its growth.
Praise for China's Superbank
"The phenomenal economic rise of China and its growing global role have been driven by a unique mix of political and economic actors. China Development Bank has been at the center of much of this growth especially as the principal banker in China's overseas commodity investments. Henry and Michael's timely book, China's Superbank, details for the first time the role that CDB has played under the focused leadership of its Chairman Chen Yuan. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand how China funds its growth but it also raises important questions as to whether CDB's strategy will be sustainable over the long term."
—Fraser Howie, Managing Director, CLSA Singapore and co-author of Red Capitalism
"Combining in-depth knowledge of China with hard-nosed economic analysis and first-rate journalism, Sanderson and Forsythe have written an astonishingly detailed yet lively portrait of China's muscular state capitalism. This important work tells us in concrete terms how China is expanding its influence around the world, not through military force, but through writing checks. This is a must-read for all those who take an interest in China's rising influence in the world—and its increasingly vulnerable financial system."
—Victor Shih, Associate Professor, Northwestern University
"In China's Superbank Henry and Michael shed a much-needed light on the operations and people behind China Development Bank, an apparent policy bank that in a brief decade has in many ways surpassed the power and functions of the country's Ministry of Finance. The tale of how this formerly moribund institution ignited China's local debt crisis while financing China's foreign policy initiatives is a must for anyone seeking to understand China's opaque financial system."
—Carl Walter, former COO of JP Morgan China, independent consultant and co-author of Red Capitalism
"American Cabinet members say the global reach and growth of China Development Bank keeps them up at night. After reading this book, they might not go to sleep at all. For all the tsunami of news about China's rise in recent years, the country's political and financial institutions remain vastly undereported and little understood. Mike Forsythe and Henry Sanderson's book helps correct that with remarkable detail and insights about the bank that laid the financial foundations for China's economic miracle at home, before then finding a formula to spread its money abroad."
—Richard McGregor, Financial Times reporter and author of The Party
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xix
Chapter 1 Let 10,000 Projects Bloom 1
The Wuhu Model 4
The Chongqing Model 9
Global Financial Crisis 12
A Town Called Loudi 15
Li's Story 18
"Manhattan" in China 22
Credit Risk in a One-Party State 26
Cracks in the System 29
Chapter 2 Turning a Zombie Bank into a Global Bank 39
A Life in the Party 41
The Princeling Party: The Beginning of State Capitalism 50
Taking Over a Basket Case 55
Transforming CDB from an ATM Machine 58
Developing a Slogan 62
Beating the Commercial Banks 64
Gao Jian: Creating a Market for "Risk-Free" Bonds 68
The West Self-Destructs: The Financial Crisis 72
Moving Beyond Wall Street 75
Chapter 3 Nothing to Lose but Our Chains: China Development Bank in Africa 85
Made in Ethiopia 90
Ethiopia's Zone: Exporting to the West 94
China-Africa Development Fund: The State's Private Equity Arm 96
Rising Role of China in Africa 101
Fixed Capital: Western-Style Lending 105
African Tiger: Can Ghana Escape the Resource Curse? 108
Fresh Capital 116
Chapter 4 Risk versus Reward: China Development Bank in Venezuela 123
Default in Bolívar's Country 125
China's Venezuelan Adventure 126
Loans for Oil 132
Cars, Housing, and Gold: Good Business for China 136
Ecuador 139
Russia 140
China in the Backyard of the United States 141
Chapter 5 Funding the New Economy 147
Obama's Dream 151
Default-Free Bond Market 153
Financing China's Global Company: Huawei 157
The Final Frontier: Private Equity 163
Acting as a Gatekeeper 167
Imprint of the State 169
Chapter 6 The Future 175
About the Authors 181
Index 183
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