Everbright Securities may buy Sun Hung Kai unit
Hong Kong
EVERBRIGHT Securities Co, China's eighth-biggest brokerage, is nearing an agreement to buy control of Sun Hung Kai & Co's securities and wealth-management businesses for about US$500 million, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Everbright Securities will acquire about 70 per cent of the Hong Kong-based company's Sun Hung Kai Financial unit, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. The deal may be announced as soon as on Monday in Hong Kong, two of the people said.
An acquisition would help Everbright bolster its presence in the city after the introduction of a Shanghai trading link that allows foreigners to buy a net 13 billion yuan (S$2.8 billion) of mainland shares each day. Officials said in January they're discussing an expansion of the programme to Shenzhen.
"Chinese brokerages, especially the larger ones, have been stepping up their efforts to expand overseas following the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect," said He Zongyan, a Shanghai-based analyst at Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co. Brokerages are aiming to build Hong Kong networks "as quickly as possible", he said.
Haitong Securities Co, based in Shanghai, bought a majority stake in Hong Kong's Taifook Securities Co for US$235 million in 2009, the first purchase of an overseas brokerage by a mainland securities firm. The deal was followed by Citic Securities Co's 2013 takeover of Hong Kong-based CLSA Ltd, which provides equity broking, research and asset-management services in 21 locations across Asia.
The acquisition by Everbright Securities doesn't include Sun Hung Kai & Co's consumer-lending unit, United Asia Finance, the people said. BLOOMBERG
