The Chinese company Fosun International Holdings Ltd has offered to buy 16.7 percent of the share capital of Banco Comercial Português SA (BCP), the bank announced in a statement issued last weekend.

“Fosun proposes to subscribe to a private placement reserved solely to Fosun… through which, at current levels, Fosun would hold a shareholding of around 16.7 percent of the total share capital of BCP,” the Portuguese bank said.

BCP added in the statement that Fosun “is also considering increasing its stake through secondary market acquisitions or in the context of future capital increases of BCP”. Such moves would be aimed at “potentially increasing Fosun’s shareholding to 20 percent to 30 percent of BCP,” the bank added.

In the statement, BCP recognised the “potential strategic interest of the proposal” and said its executive committee decided to proceed with “a careful analysis” of it, “in order to make a decision on opening negotiations and presenting a recommendation to the board of directors, as soon as possible”. The process would have to be approved by Portugal’s banking supervisory entity, the statement added.

In Portugal, Fosun already controls insurance company Fidelidade and, through it, health group Luz Saúde.