DealZone

Kuwait has confirmed its investment in the China Agbank IPO and others are expected to step forward shortly.

The driving force behind Agbank public offering is Vice President Pan Gongsheng. The IPO is being hammered out in a classroom and attendance is monitored. Find out more of how this deal looks and feels here.

Here are some key facts about the bank and its cornerstone investors.

The IPO, expected to raise $23 billion, has faced serious global headwinds. Specific to the region, the main Shanghai index has fallen 21 percent this year, making it one of the worst performers in the world.

In the cut-throat world of investment banking, rivals are looking for ways to use the fraud charges against Goldman Sachs to chip away at the firm’s armor.

Investment bankers have been lobbying executives at state-owned Agricultural Bank of China and pushing officials in Beijing to drop Goldman as an underwriter for the more than $20 billion IPO the Chinese bank is preparing, sources told Reuters.

Rivals are also asking officials at state-controlled Bank of Communications to ditch Goldman from its joint global coordinator role in the $6.1 billion rights issue that China’s fifth-largest bank is planning for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.