You don’t have to be an old China hand to recall a time when the world couldn’t get enough of Chinese banks. A little later, Chinese sovereign wealth funds were teaming up with the country’s state-dominated banking industry to bail out the floundering U.S. financial sector.

But after a few months of financial chaos, it’s foreign investors who are turning their backs on China. Bank of America has talked about selling down its holding in China Construction Bank for weeks, and overnight it raised $2.83 billion in just such a sale. Hong Kong’s richest tycoon, Li Ka-shing, known in Hong Kong as Superman, not least because of his goofy Clark Kent glasses, followed by selling a $500 million stake in rival Bank of China. UBS recently unloaded its holding in Bank of China, and embattled Royal Bank of Scotland is under pressure to sell its stake in the Chinese bank as the global financial crisis ravages the industry.

Things are tough all over, and China is no exception, but the timing of all this probably has more to do with the end of lock-ups and the need to shore up cash positions than concern that the Chinese banking system is a creaky, state policy lending apparatus that has more nonperforming loans than paper to print them on. And Bank of America hasn’t exactly cashed out. It still holds a 16.6 percent stake in Construction Bank. It sold a 2.5 percent stake at a 12 percent discount to Construction Bank’s closing stock price on Tuesday.

The discount, aside from showing some desperation, has the residual effect of making Bank of America’s chunky Merrill Lynch purchase seem a bit more expensive. Expectations in Hong Kong are that Bank of America isn’t done selling its Construction Bank holdings as it looks to consolidate its position as the top U.S. bank.

Other Deals News:

* Creditors of Daewoo Electronics have ended talks to sell the South Korean appliance and TV maker to U.S. private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, and would look at ways to restructure Daewoo, a bank official said.

* Dow Chemical is prepared to miss next week’s deadline to clinch the $15 billion takeover of Rohm & Haas in an effort to raise enough cash to complete the deal without taking on too much debt, the Financial Times reported on its website.

* Hyundai Mobis, South Korea’s top auto parts maker, has abandoned a plan to merge with a sister company as both companies faced a combined $2.3 billion bill from shareholders opposing their tie-up.

* Natixis has short-listed Texas Pacific Group, CVC and Advent International as possible buyers for its 50 percent stake in financial asset custody unit Caceis, French daily La Tribune reported.

* Australian iron ore prospector Brockman Resources has signed about 12 agreements with Chinese, Japanese and Korean firms, which could potentially lead to them buying minority stakes in Brockman, a senior company official told Reuters.

* Indonesia’s biggest coal miner, PT Bumi Resources, said it has agreed to buy a 44 percent stake, worth $218 million, in PT Darma Henwa, a mining operator which has contracts with Bumi.

* Beiqi Foton, China’s largest commercial vehicle maker, has agreed with Daimler to form a joint venture with total investment of 6.35 billion yuan ($929 million), the company said.

(Photo: Reuters)