Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Ltd.'s shareholders approved its parent company's plan Tuesday to take the unit private for US$1.4 billion.

The move is part of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.'s plan to streamline its operations as China's biggest lender by assets expands its Hong Kong operations. ICBC Asia will delist from the Hong Kong stock exchange Dec. 21.

Stanley Wong, deputy general manager of ICBC Asia, said the parent company has no plans to inject capital into the firm in the near term and ICBC Asia has no fundraising plans for now.

"But we may need to increase capital (of the company) from 2011 onward for business development through different means...including a capital injection from the parent company," Mr. Wong said.

In August, ICBC, which owns 72.81% of ICBC Asia, offered minority shareholders 29.45 Hong Kong dollars (US$3.80) in cash for each of their shares in the unit, representing a 28% premium to ICBC Asia's share price of HK$23.05 at the time.

ICBC (Asia)'s shares were suspended from trading Tuesday pending the results of the shareholders' meeting following a court meeting related to the parent company's plan to take the unit private. ICBC (Asia)'s shares closed at HK$28.65 Monday, putting the offer price at a 2.8% premium to the last share price.

ICBC bought a controlling stake in ICBC (Asia), formerly Union Bank of Hong Kong, in 2000 from China Merchants Finance Holdings Co.