BBVA sells China Citic Bank stake for $1.7b

Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has agreed to sell 4.9% of China Citic Bank Corp. to Chinese real estate firm Xinhu Zhongbao for HK$13.136 billion $1.69 billion to help bolster its balance sheet, the latest step in its divorce with China's seventh-largest bank by assets.

The deal announced on Friday follows BBVA's December sale to China Citic of a 29.68% stake in Citic International Financial Holdings, which is China Citic's unlisted Hong Kong-based unit, for about 845 million $948 million. In 2013, BBVA trimmed its stake in China Citic to just below 10%. 

BBVA's remaining 4.7% looks earmarked for...