After a year, the licensing issue between UBS Securities Limited (hereinafter referred to as UBS Securities) and Credit Suisse Securities (China) Limited (hereinafter referred to as Credit Suisse Securities (China)) in China is expected to reach a final conclusion.
Recently, UBS Group AG has entered into negotiations with Beijing State owned Assets Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Beijing State owned Assets Management Co., Ltd.) regarding the sale of Credit Suisse's Chinese securities business. The final result may be announced to the public at the end of June. A person from UBS Group confirmed this news to reporters.
According to previous market news, most of the shares of Credit Suisse Securities (China) will be sold to Beijing State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Corporation, which will eventually own 85% of the shares of Credit Suisse Securities (China). Subsequently, UBS Group will acquire a 33% stake in UBS Securities held by Beijing State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Corporation, thereby becoming a wholly foreign-owned securities company. After the transaction is completed, UBS Group will still retain 15% of the shares of Credit Suisse Securities (China), while the remaining shares will be held by Beijing State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Corporation. However, the above information is still awaiting confirmation of the final negotiation outcome.
According to the latest information disclosed by Credit Suisse Securities (China) in January 2024, 49% of the company's equity still belongs to Founder Securities. Credit Suisse had previously attempted to acquire the remaining 49% equity from Founder Securities to achieve full control, but the transaction was temporarily put on hold due to a sudden merger between UBS Group and Credit Suisse. Therefore, the disposal of the shares currently held by Founder Securities also needs to wait for the final confirmation of the outcome.
On May 31st this year, UBS Group announced that its historic acquisition of Credit Suisse has been successfully completed, and Credit Suisse has been deregistered in Zurich and will no longer exist as an independent entity. This is only 15 months since UBS Group announced its plan to acquire Credit Suisse on March 19, 2023.
At that time, someone close to UBS Securities said, "Due to the numerous branches of UBS and Credit Suisse in China, as well as specific requirements for foreign shareholding ratios, their merger and acquisition activities in China have become relatively complex and progress has been slow. Currently, we are accelerating the integration process, and if everything goes according to plan, important progress is expected to be made in the coming months."
In addition, earlier this year, Citadel Securities, a subsidiary of renowned American investor Ken Griffin, also sought opportunities to expand its business in China and participated in a bid for equity in Credit Suisse Securities (China). At present, Castle Securities does not comment on the progress of the negotiations. However, Tang Xiaodong, the head of China business at Castle Securities, stated in an interview with Shanghai Securities News in February this year that he will always be committed to becoming a licensed institution in the onshore market of China.