Coca-Cola Beverages (Shanghai) Ltd. has completed a 250-million-yuan ($40.85-million) inter-company loan to London-based Atlantic Industries, a Coca-Cola subsidiary, with the help of Citibank China.
China's central bank issued a circular in August about simplifying the cross-border renminbi business process, which for the first time allowed multinationals in China to make inter-company loans to their operations globally. The loan makes Coca-Cola one of the first multinational companies in China to benefit from the new regulation.
The transaction also marks the first renminbi cross-border lending operation for Citibank China after the recent regulatory release, prior to which onshore banks had to seek approval from the central bank for renminbi denominated loan quotas on behalf of their clients, a process that usually took roughly two months. Now it takes less than 10 working days. |