China IPO could be huge for Goldman Sachs

In April, Goldman Sachs invested about $2.6 billion in the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China. Those 16.5 billion shares in the big-name China bank could prove to be a bonanza if the bank's upcoming initial public offering performs as expected. If the initial price is set toward the high end, Goldman stands to reap up to $6.5 billion. Turning those gains into cash will have to wait, however. Goldman cannot sell shares until April 2009. It would then have until October 2009 to sell up to 50 percent of its stake. That's plenty of time for the stock to zoom, crash or stand still. A lot of Western banks will be watching closely. As ICBC goes, so go the others.

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