Bank of Qingdao

History

Bank of Qingdao was founded on 15 November 1996 as Qingdao City Cooperative Bank (青岛城市合作银行). This was by way of merger of 21 urban cooperatives in Qingdao. In 1998, the bank's name was changed to Qingdao commercial Bank (青岛市商业银行) so as to target a larger client base. The shareholders of these cooperatives became the founder shareholders in the newly developed bank.

In 2001, Haier took majority control of the bank after six of its subsidiaries acquired stake in the bank. This acquisition was made by Haier through its subsidiaries as the Chinese laws did not allow a non-financial institution to own more than ten percent of a bank. Haier's investment enabled the bank to invest in the SilverLake system. This made Qingdao Commercial Bank the first institution in China to adopt the system. The bank received investment from Qingdao Conson in 2005.

In 2008, Italy based Intesa Sanpaolo acquired a twenty percent stake in the bank for $135m. This was followed by an investment of €25.4m from Rothschild Continuation Holdings for a five percent stake in the bank. These acquisitions made ISP and Rothschild the first foreign investors in the bank and were part of a broader fundraising that more than doubled the bank's capital. In 2008, the bank's was rebranded to Bank of Qingdao and it expanded its operations outside Qingdao.

In November 2015, Bank of Qingdao listed H shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after a successful initial public offering. The bank managed to raise US$607 million in the public offering. The offer was undersubscription due to a volatile market. The IPO was underwritten by Goldman Sachs and CITIC Securities with BNP Paribas, Banca IMI (Intesa Sanpaolo's investment bank) and Rothschild as part of the transaction advisors. The IPO also saw the shares of the major shareholders listed on the HKSE making it possible for them to exit the venture through the stock exchange.