(Bloomberg) -- Citic Securities Co. jumped Thursday on resuming trading in China, after it announced it will pay as much as 13.5 billion yuan ($2 billion) to buy Guangzhou Securities Co.
The nation's largest brokerage will sell 793.2 million shares at 16.97 yuan each to Yuexiu Financial Holdings Group and its unit to buy all of Guangzhou Securities, Citic Securities said in an exchange filing late Wednesday. Its China-listed shares rose 4.9 percent Thursday, the biggest gain since October.
“The price of the acquisition, at a price-to-book ratio of 1.2 to 1.3 times, is lower than the market expectation,” said Luo Zuanhui, a Shenzhen-based analyst at Tianfeng Securities Co. Citic Securities's strategic expansion amid the market downturn boosts the firm's relatively weak presence in southern China, he said.
An anticipated consolidation among Chinese brokerages has fueled a rally this year after the sector slumped in 2018, and there's more room to rise as valuations are far from their 10-year average. A Bloomberg gauge of China-listed securities firms has gained about six times more than the broader benchmark index.
Read: China Brokers, Bashed in 2018, Lead Investors' New Year Gain
Citic Securities has acquired a number of brokerages over the years, including Credit Agricole SA's CLSA in 2012, Wantong Securities Co. and Goldstone Securities Co. The purchase of Guangzhou Securities will strengthen Citic Securities' presence in southern China after its failed bid to buy a stake in GF Securities Co. in 2004.
Guangzhou Securities will spin off a 99 percent stake in Guangzhou Futures and 24 percent in fund-management company Golden Eagle before the transaction. Citic Securities' shares had been suspended since the preliminary deal was announced after the market shut on Dec. 24.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Evelyn Yu in Shanghai at yyu263@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Jeanette Rodrigues
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
With assistance from Bloomberg
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