Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing's Hong Kong Registrars and Australian-based Computershare's Central Registration Hong Kong will soon merge.
The merged entity, to be called Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services (CHIS), will account for more than one-third of the local market in share registration.
Under the agreement announced yesterday, CHIS will be 76 per cent owned by Computershare and 24 per cent by HKEx. The exchange will have an option to acquire a further 6 per cent.
The pair said CHIS's clients would include 22 of the 33 companies in the Hang Seng Index and all 27 mainland H-share companies in the Hang Seng China Enterprise Index.
Of Hong Kong's 900 stocks, 99 are registered under HKEx's Hong Kong Registration, while 237 are under Computershare's Central Registration.