Haitong Securities' talks with Portuguese bank may mark start of China's European rush
Chinese finance firms have been slow to enter global market, but that is about to change with Shanghai broker’s planned Portuguese bank deal
Next year could be the year mainland financial firms make their move on ailing peers in Europe, analysts said yesterday after Haitong Securities announced it was in talks to acquire Portuguese lender Banco Espirito Santo’s investment bank.
Haitong disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday that the state-owned broker was in talks to buy Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento (BESI).
The deal with the struggling bank would help internationalise the Shanghai-based broker and expand its geographical coverage, it said in the announcement.
Haitong’s shares soared as much as 21.6 per cent yesterday after resuming trading from Thursday’s suspension, but closed 12.4 per cent ahead at HK$19.18.
Mainland outbound acquisitions have picked up rapidly over the past decade, with year-on-year growth of about 17 per cent worth US$90 billion last year. But financial firms have been slow to enter the global market, with banking buyouts accounting for only a fraction of the outbound figure.
“I’m surprised it’s not happening faster,” Lawrence Chen, an equities analyst at CCB International Securities, said of Chinese mergers and buyouts of foreign financial institutions. “I think this has been China’s intention since 2007.”