Evergrande buys 4.5% share in Beijing's Huaxia Bank

Chinese property developer Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd said Friday that it has paid 3.3 billion yuan ($545 million) for a 4.5 percent share in domestic lender Huaxia Bank.

Beijing-based Huaxia is a Shanghai-listed lender that had a net asset of 74.7 billion yuan at the end of 2012. Profit was 12.8 billion yuan in 2012 and 9.2 billion yuan in 2011. Evergrande said in a statement to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd on Friday that its cooperation with Huaxia Bank will "foster the relationship between the two industries and will enhance both the property development and banking businesses of each of the parties".