TPG, the US private equity firm, is poised to cash out of one of the most high-profile and controversial private equity investments made in China after regulators approved its plan to sell a controlling stake in Shenzhen Development Bank to Chinese financial group Ping An Insurance.
The deal was first announced last June and, after waiting for regulatory approval for nearly a year, TPG is poised to make a profit of more than $2.14bn.
Ping An said it had received all the necessary approvals to buy TPG's 16.76 per cent stake in SDB. The deal will return the bank to full Chinese ownership almost six years after TPG became the first foreign investor to take a controlling stake in a Chinese lender.