Allianz SE and American Express Co. plan to keep their Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. stakes, which have a combined value of about $3.1 billion, past a lockup on the holdings that expires today.
Allianz and American Express have no immediate plan to sell, the companies and ICBC of Beijing said Monday. Allianz has 3.22 billion Hong Kong-traded ICBC shares, and American Express owns 638 million.
The agreement "is an indication that key shareholders are optimistic about ICBC's business and growth potential and will lend some support to its shares," said Victor Wang, an analyst at UBS AG in Hong Kong.
Four years after receiving a government bailout, ICBC is the world's biggest bank by market value and profit.
