A joint venture between a British property entrepreneur and HBOS will become the biggest shareholder in Kinghing Trust & Investment, a Kinghing spokesman said yesterday.
The spokesman, surnamed Li, said that Scotland Scargold Investment would pay 497.5 million yuan for a 19.9 per cent stake, with a signing ceremony set for next Monday.
Kinghing is based in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. A spokeswoman for HBOS in Britain declined comment.
Wang Xiaofeng, chairman of Kinghing, said that he wanted to bring in a strategic investor and that as Britain's largest mortgage provider HBOS had rich experience in the property business and the securitisation of mortgages.
He said that he wanted to develop new products such as annuities and the securitisation of assets.
Mr Li said that Scargold was a joint venture between HBOS and Scarborough Property Holdings, a property company controlled by Kevin McCabe, a Yorkshire property entrepreneur and chairman of Sheffield United football club.