Citic Securities
Citic Securities is the clear winner of this category – just look at the numbers. The firm reported revenues of Rmb43.1 billion ($6.3 billion) in 2019, and a net profit of Rmb12.2 billion, surpassing all of its rivals among the Chinese securities houses.
For the first six months of 2020, Citic was the only securities firm whose revenue topped Rmb10 billion to reach Rmb14.6 billion – up 35.5% year on year. Net profit jumped 33.8% to almost Rmb6.2 billion.
In the domestic debt capital markets, Citic worked on nearly 2,500 deals with a total volume of Rmb1.1 trillion during our awards period, between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, and was the only name among its securities peers with an underwriting volume in the trillions of renminbi.
It was the undisputed leader in the equities market. Its ECM volume rose almost 35% year on year during our awards period, giving it a market share of more than 18%. Its IPO underwriting volume surged 91% as Citic built a strong presence not only in the country’s two main boards, but also on sub-boards such as the Nasdaq-style Star that was only launched a year ago.
Citic is considered an expert in the restructuring of state-owned enterprises. It underscored that reputation by working on China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings’ Rmb145.8 billion restructuring, the largest asset restructuring in the A-share market in recent years. It also worked on other large transactions in the private sector, such as Wumei Technology Group’s purchase of a majority stake in Metro China, and Wuhan Zhongshang Commercial (Group) Co’s Rmb36 billion acquisition of Beijing Easyhome, a furniture chain.
Since 2019, Citic began further integrating the business and management of its onshore and overseas platforms. Citic acquired CLSA in 2013 as part of its international expansion, and consolidated Citic Securities International and CLSA under the new CLSA brand.
Last year, the firm brought onshore and offshore teams closer together: that integration means Citic is even better placed to meet its domestic clients’ local funding requirements, as well as the needs of Chinese issuers going offshore, or foreign firms moving in the opposite direction.