China Huarong Asset Management said Monday the transfer of the distressed assets to Citigroup has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The package was part of an international auction of 25 billion yuan (US$3.02 billion) in bad assets, the largest ever held by China, organized by China Huarong in December last year.

While the five successful foreign bidders including Citigroup have had to wait almost a year to have their purchases approved, China Huarong pointed to a notice issued last month by the NDRC to suggest future transfers would be expedited.

Sales of bad assets within a projected annual ceiling will not have to be submitted to the NDRC for prior approval.

Instead the asset management companies would only have to notify the commission of the completion of the transfer, the NDRC notice cited in China Huarong?ˉs statement said.

China Huarong is one of four asset management companies set up by the Ministry of Finance in 1999 to resolve 1.4 trillion yuan in non-performing loans transferred from the country?ˉs four major State-run commercial banks.

Its non-performing loans were bought from Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the largest of the country?ˉs big four State banks.

Apart from Citigroup, the other international investment banks that successfully bid for distressed assets put on the block by China Huarong were J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, UBS AG and Morgan Stanley. However, Citigroup was the only successful bidder to seek an outright sale of the distressed assets.

The other bidders instead agreed to transfer the debt packages to joint ventures set up with China Huarong aimed at eventually disposing those bad loans.

However, regulatory hurdles relating to the transfer of State-owned assets to foreign companies had to be overcome before confirmation of the successful bids.

A spokesman for China Huarong said a decision regarding the transfer of the distressed assets to the foreign joint ventures would be announced soon.