Huatai United Securities
Liu Xiaodan almost single-handedly built Huatai United Securities into a top Chinese investment bank for mergers and acquisitions within a decade. But Liu, M&A banker-turned-chair, left Huatai United in August 2019 and set up her own private equity firm this May.
M&A has long been at the heart of Huatai’s business, so its M&A team was not deterred by the leadership change. Under its new chairman – Jiang Yu, who has been an investment banker for 18 years – the securities house continued to outperform during our awards period, between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020.
As a financial adviser, it had the highest number of M&A deals that received the green light from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) during our awards period, working on 15 out of the 95 transactions approved by the regulator. The deals are valued at a combined Rmb148 billion ($22 billion).
They include a deal for Suzhou HYC Technology Co, the first-ever company listed on the Nasdaq-style Star board, with Huatai as the sole IPO sponsor and lead underwriter. As the financial adviser for the company’s acquisition of 100% stake in Xiamen OLT for over Rmb1 billion, Huatai helped HYC file the application just days after the stock exchange published official rules for Star-listed companies’ M&A transactions. The plan to fund the deal with a mix of cash and new shares was approved by the exchange in May and registered successfully with the CSRC in June.
One of Huatai’s key strengths is human capital. Its 40 experienced M&A bankers, split evenly between domestic and international teams, are able to structure and execute some of the most complicated and innovative transactions in the market.