Chinese and foreign banks are hovering around Cosco's $6.3bn acquisition of Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), hoping to get a piece of a blue-chip financing deal when the buyer replaces a Bank of China bridging loan.

The long-rumoured negotiations between China Cosco Holdings (CCH) and OOCL, as well as with Bank of China for the bridging finance, are believed to have been done directly by Cosco chief financial officer Deng Huangjun and a small core team.