Sub-prime, China style

Billions of dollars of foreign investment flooded into fast-growing manufacturers and real estate developers at the height of the China boom. Now, as the economy slows, many badly judged, rushed deals are unravelling, with investors unlikely to recoup more than a tiny proportion of their funds. Elliot Wilson reports.

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IN EARLY 2006, Citi made a classic China error: entered into in haste, repented at leisure. In tandem with a clutch of investors including Credit Suisse, Japan’s Aozora Bank and hedge funds Income Partners, Citadel Investment Group and PMA Investment Advisers, the US banking group cobbled together a $160 million loan for one of mainland China’s fastest-growing industrial firms, FerroChina.

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