Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance co-advises Haitong Securities on its proposed acquisition of Portuguese investment bank Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has co-advised Haitong Securities Co., Ltd. on its proposed acquisition of Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento (BESI) for €379 million (US$467 million) from Portuguese banking group, Novo Banco, S.A. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Garrigues Portugal, S.L.P. – Sucursal acted as the other co-counsel advising on the Portuguese law aspects of this transaction.

BESI is a fully licensed bank which has a number of controlled core subsidiaries in several countries, namely BESI Brasil and BESI Securities in Brazil, Execution Noble in the UK, ES Securities in India, ESIP in Ireland, Lusitania in Mexico and ES Capital in Portugal. BESI also develops its activities through its branches in London, Madrid, New York and Warsaw. Its main activities include equity financing, debt financing, acquisition financial advisory, project finance, and acquisition finance, among others.

"We're delighted to have worked with Haitong Securities on this strategic acquisition," said Corporate partner Cherry Chan, who led the team on this transaction. "Chinese companies continue to expand globally as they seek to grow their businesses outside their home market, and we expect to see more deals with bigger price tags in 2015."

Cherry was supported by partner Virginia Lee in Hong Kong and partner Jean Thio, associates Lorna Lu and Kevin Wu in Shanghai.

Haitong Securities is China’s second-largest securities firm by market value and is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (Clifford Chance also acted for Haitong Securities on its listing in Hong Kong in 2012). It provides a comprehensive range of financial products and services for around 5 million retail clients as well as over 15,000 institutional and high net worth clients with more than 300 networks spreading across nearly 30 provinces in China.