Ant Group acquires Hong Kong-based Retail Broker for $362 Million Deal

To increase its footprint in the city, Ant Group has agreed to pay HK 2.81 billion USD (362 million USD) to acquire a majority share in Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group, a brokerage listed in Hong Kong.

According to a filing made to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday, Yip Mow Lum, the chairman of Bright Smart, has conditionally agreed to sell his 50.55 percent stake, or roughly 858 million shares, to Wealthiness and Prosperity Holding Ltd., which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese fintech giant Jack Ma.

According to calculations by Bloomberg, the price is HK 3.28 per USD share, which is 7.5% more than the broker's stock was when it was banned from trade on April 23. In accordance with the Hong Kong Takeovers Code, Ant will make an obligatory cash offer at the same price to buy all of the remaining shares after the transaction is complete. It said that the offer price will not be raised.

Ant plans to keep Bright Smart's Hong Kong listing in place and has no plans to make any significant changes to the company's operations. According to the filing, the investment intends to solidify its position as one of Hong Kong's top retail brokerages.

According to the filing, Ant Wealth Shanghai Yunjin Information Technology, a one-stop wealth management platform with over 150 asset managers, is one of the investments held by the Ant subsidiary that oversees Wealthiness and Prosperity in the digital brokerage industry. Ant's financial advisor is Morgan Stanley Asia. On April 28, Bright Smart will start trading again.