Sinopac Securities to acquire IBT brokerage

Sinopac Securities is to acquire the stock brokerage business of IBT Securities for $12.09m, a deal that will expand SinoPac's operating scale and boost profitability and securities brokerage market share.

SinoPac Securities set to purchase IBT brokerage

By Ted Chen / Staff reporter





SinoPac Securities Co (永豐金證券) yesterday said it would acquire the stock brokerage business of IBT Securities Co (台灣工銀證券) for NT$390 million (US$12.09 million).

Its parent company, SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), made the announcement at a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

The deal would allow SinoPac Securities to take full control of operations of eight IBT Securities stock brokerage offices and equipment, but the NT$390 million figure does not include creditors’ rights for the securities financing accounts that are currently managed by IBT Securities.

SinoPac Financial said that the final price will be decided ahead of the transfer of ownership and operating rights, which, pending regulatory approval, is scheduled to take place on Sept. 26.

“The deal will help expand the company’s operating scale and boost our profitability and securities brokerage market share, leading to improvements in shareholders’ equity,” said Mei Lan (藍玫君), senior executive vice president of SinoPac Securities wealth management and offshore securities business group.

SinoPac Securities’ share of the local brokerage market in the first quarter of the year was estimated at 4.68 percent, placing its fourth among its peers, Lan said.

IBT Securities said that it is also preparing to dispose of its other units — re-consigned trading, futures and options, and securities underwriting.

Its parent company, the Industrial Bank of Taiwan (IBT, 台灣工業銀行), said the deal with SinoPac is part of preparations to change its registered entity to be a commercial bank.

IBT is to be renamed O-Bank (王道商業銀行) and become the nation’s 40th commercial bank. It plans to specialize in corporate loans.

Regulatory guidelines limit the size of investment businesses, such as subsidiaries, that can be operated by commercial banks based on their net worth.

The sale of the brokerage would allow O-Bank to meet those requirements, IBT’s board said.

IBT also announced plans to apply for an initial public offering (IPO) of 22.5 million common shares to raise NT$225 million.

IBT’s IPO application is to be submitted for regulators’ review after the firm’s shareholders vote on the decision in a general assembly scheduled for June 3, it said.