Goldman sells ICBC stake for $1.1 billion

MACAU (AP) -- Goldman Sachs has sold its remaining stake in China's biggest commercial lender for $1.1 billion.

A person familiar with the deal said Tuesday that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sold just under 1.6 billion shares of state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. The person was not authorized to discuss Monday's sale publicly and asked not to be identified.

Goldman was one of a number of Western banks that bought stakes in China's major state-owned commercial lenders before they held initial public stock sales over the past decade.

The Western institutions hoped the relationships would help them expand in China but most were disappointed. Still, shares in the Chinese banks multiplied in value and foreign institutions have made billions of dollars on their investments.