China’s pioneering US bank acquisition ticks all the right boxes. Minsheng Bank has gained a US presence in a business it knows well: its target, UCBH Holdings, is a San Francisco-based community bank serving Chinese family businesses. Better still, Minsheng has (so far) avoided both paying a hefty premium and ruffling feathers on Capitol Hill – a rare feat for a Chinese acquirer beating a path to the US.

All told, Minsheng will pay about $200m for 9.9 per cent of San Francisco- based UCBH in two phases. The initial 4.9 per cent bite is priced at the previous 90-day average closing price; the second may command a slim premium. That is pocket change for Minsheng. UCBH is roughly one-tenth its size in terms of assets, and the first cheque will have little impact on the Chinese lender’s healthy capital adequacy ratio. Should any strains appear later – subject to approvals, Minsheng has the option to increase its stake to 20 per cent – the lender can tap two of the world’s more buoyant capital markets. Minsheng’s Shanghai-listed shares have almost doubled this year, in spite of a massive block sale in March, and it is mulling a listing in Hong Kong.

Has Minsheng blazed a trail for peers to follow? Do not hold your breath. Unlike most rivals, it is privately owned and was ready to settle for a minority stake. That may have soothed US regulators, who are more likely to bridle at advances by state-controlled entities. UCBH is also a special case. Its need for cash meant it was prepared to sell the initial slug of stock at market price. Ironically, the cash raised will soon return to China, to fund UCBH’s purchase of Shanghai-based Business Development Bank. The whiff of reciprocity doubtless pleased the Americans. Beijing, which sees overseas acquisitions as a way to balance the waves of foreign money entering China, may have a different view.