China's Haitong Securities to buy Hong Kong broker

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-23 15:42

SHANGHAI: Haitong Securities has agreed to acquire Hong Kong-based rival Taifook Securities for 1.82 billion Hong Kong dollars ($236 million) in the first such takeover by a mainland Chinese securities house, the companies said Monday.

Shanghai-based Haitong, the mainland's second largest brokerage by assets, plans to buy a 52.9 percent stake in Taifook Securities Group owned by NWS Holdings, a subsidiary of Hong Kong property developer New World Development Co., according to a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The plan values Taifook at HK$4.88 ($0.63) per share. NWS would retain a 9 percent stake in Taifook, the notice said.

Once the sale is complete Haitong, whose shares are traded in Shanghai, plans to make an offer for the remaining publicly traded shares, it said.

Mainland brokerages are seeking to expand in Hong Kong ahead of a planned loosening of restrictions on investments by mainland Chinese in the city's share markets.

Hong Kong is a self-governing Chinese territory.

Haitong said it "views the Hong Kong market to be very important to its international expansion strategy." Taifook's retail network and reputation would enable it to offer a full range of services in Hong Kong, it said.

Taifook Securities' shares were trading at HK$4.82 by mid-afternoon Monday, up 1 percent. Haitong's shares remained suspended from trading.