Export-Import Bank of China will borrow US$260 million from nine banks to support expanding trade

financing and overseas investment by Chinese companies, according to Bank of China, which is

arranging the loan.
　　The bank will sign the loan on February 20, said Wang Tong, Bank of China's head of debt capital

markets.

　　Export-Import Bank had asked for US$200 million, then raised its request 30 per cent after the

banks offered US$300 million, Wang said yesterday in Beijing.

　　Beijing-based Export-Import Bank will pay interest of 0.25 percentage point more than the London

interbank offered rate for the loan, the second dollar-syndicated loan since November 2004, Wang

said.

　　The other eight lenders for the US$260 million loan are Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc,

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, ING Greop NV, Bank of Montreal, HSBC Holdings Plc, BNP Paribas SA, Bank

of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd and Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd, Wang said.

　　Bank of China and its strategic investor, Royal Bank of Scotland, will each lend US$60 million,

Wang said. Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain's second-biggest bank, said in August it will join with

Merrill Lynch & Co and Li Ka-shing's Foundation to pay US$3.1 billion for 10 per cent of Bank of

China.

　　Export-Import Bank took a US$500 million five-year loan in 2004 arranged by Citigroup Inc, paying

an interest margin of 0.35 percentage point, Bloomberg data shows.

　　Export-Import Bank lent 95.9 billion yuan (US$11.9 billion) of trade financing in the first half

of 2005, it said on its website. It raised US$1 billion in July from a 10-year bond issue.