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Ant Group subsidiary completes steps to take over Hong Kong retail brokerage Bright Smart

Bright Smart shares surge after Ant Group’s Wealthiness and Prosperity completes reporting procedures required by Chinese authorities

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Bright Smart Securities chairman Peter Yip Mow-lum. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Cheryl ArcibalandYulu Ao

An Ant Group subsidiary has fulfilled all the necessary requirements for acquiring Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group, Hong Kong’s largest retail stock brokerage, after completing reporting procedures with China’s regulatory authorities, the two companies announced in a joint off-trading-hours filing on Monday.

Wealthiness and Prosperity Holding, which is ultimately controlled by Ant Group, had completed reporting procedures required for high-value non-sensitive investment projects, it said.

Ant Group operates the Alipay payment system used by Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the South China Morning Post.
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The filing said the conditions for completion of the deal had now been satisfied and it was expected to close on March 30.

Shares of Bright Smart surged 47 per cent to close at HK$13.60 on Tuesday after it resumed trading, following a suspension the previous day.

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The deal, originally agreed in April last year, would see mainland China’s dominant online-payment operator pay HK$2.81 billion (US$359 million) for 50.55 per cent of Bright Smart, giving it a foothold in the world’s most active initial public offering market.
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