Crédit Agricole and Citic plan Asian venture
FRANCE’s Crédit Agricole and China’s Citic Securities have entered talks to create a broker and investment bank to chase growing opportunities in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
The companies plan to explore combining Citic Securities with Crédit Agricole’s CLSA Asia brokerage, Cheuvreux European brokerage, financial advisory franchise in Asia, Europe and the United States and its US broker-dealer.
The move would create a global equity broker with more than 350 analysts worldwide, the companies said in a joint statement.
The companies would create an investment bank focused on China and the Asia-Pacific region, while Citic Securities would become CLSA’s joint-venture partner in China for institutional brokerage and investment banking. The deal would enable the companies to form a “global equity platform spanning Europe, Asia and the US”, Jean-Paul Chifflet, chief executive of Crédit Agricole and chairman of Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, said.
Citic Securities said the move would be “another significant step towards internationalisation”.