Immigration and Business in Portugal: China's Haitong Securities completed its acquisition of the Portuguese bank Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI) yesterday. Haitong is seeking to pursue further overseas acquisitions on this basis, including a European asset management firm and a U.S. investment firm.
Hiroki Miyazato, Deputy President of Haitong Securities, told the Financial Times that the recent sell-off in the Chinese stock market has made him more convinced of the need to enter Western markets and pursue diversification.
"I don't think this short-term stock market trend will have an impact on the long-term trend of Chinese corporate internationalization," he said.
"However, they will inevitably be more cautious, and they need to adjust their financing and hedging strategies to cope with risks, such as foreign exchange and market volatility, and Haitong will help them."
Nine months after agreeing to pay 379 million euros to acquire BESI from Novo Banco, Haitong received approval from regulators in 11 countries to complete the deal. Novo Banco was born from the ruins of the collapsed Banco Espírito Santo.
BESI, which will soon be renamed Haitong Bank, has already begun active recruitment, adding more than 20 employees in London in recent weeks. Haitong plans to more than double the number of employees at the newly acquired European firm within three years; the company currently has about 800 employees. Haitong Bank will be headquartered in Lisbon, where it currently has about 200 employees; however, Haitong Bank plans to expand rapidly in the UK, where it has about 100 employees. In addition, the company also operates in Brazil, Spain, Poland, India, and the United States.
Hiroki Miyazato stated: "We hope to expand our business in the UK, which is one of the most important markets in the world."
He said that Haitong Bank is looking to expand its activities in cash equities, research, fixed income, asset management, and mergers and acquisitions.
"Asset management is an area where Haitong is considering expansion through acquisitions," he said, adding that Haitong aims to become a leading offshore RMB service provider in London.