A plan for the restructuring of the debt-laden Guangdong Development Bank has been submitted to the State Council, China's cabinet, for approval, the China Securities Journal said Wednesday.

The plan includes the latest offers from the three bidders. They consist of a consortium led by U.S. banking giant Citigroup, another consortium led by the Societe Generale of France and China's Ping An Insurance Company.

The Citigroup consortium, which includes China Life Insurance Group, the nation's largest insurer, and the China Guodian Corp, a major electricity distributor, is offering 24.1 billion yuan (about US$3.01 billion) for an 85 percent stake in the troubled bank, the report said, quoting well-informed sources.

The Citigroup consortium's offer is 600 million yuan higher than that of the Societe Generale and 1.5 billion yuan higher than that of the Ping An Insurance, the report said.

The Citigroup consortium is offering to take 40 to 45 percent of the shares, which exceeds the limit of 25 percent foreign ownership of a Chinese bank, the report said. No further explanation was given.

By the end of June this year, the Guangdong Development Bank had assets worth of 387 billion yuan. It reported a pre-tax profit of 1.68 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 200 percent year on year.

By the end of 2003, the bank's bad loans totaled 35.7 billion yuan, accounting for 18.53 percent of its total loans.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)