Bank of East Asia, NWS Holdings to Sell Tricor Holdings for HK$6.47 Billion
October 05 2016 - 7:40AM
Dow Jones News
By Gaurav Raghuvanshi
SINGAPORE--The Bank of East Asia Ltd. (0023.HK) and NWS Holdings
Ltd. (0659.HK) said Wednesday that they have signed a deal to sell
their entire stake in a Hong Kong-based financial services firm for
6.47 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$834 million) to private-equity
firm Permira.
The sale of Tricor Holdings Ltd., which provides back-office
services to a range of companies including many Hong Kong- and
Singapore-listed firms, follows a review of Bank of East Asia's
investment in the firm. Bank of East Asia holds a 75.6% stake in
Tricor and NWS owns the rest.
The sale "will generate cash proceeds for strategic
opportunities relating to the bank's core banking business and
improve the bank's capital position," Bank of East Asia said in a
statement to the Hong Kong Exchange. The bank will book a profit of
about HK$3.1 billion from the sale, it said.
Tricor provides services such as accounting and financial
reporting, payroll and payment administration and corporate
governance, according to its website. It has offices in 36 cities
across 19 countries and territories.
Bank of East Asia had come under pressure from activist investor
Elliott Management Corp. to sell itself. The New York-based hedge
fund, which owns about 7% of Bank of East Asia, had blamed the
bank's chairman, David Li, for mismanagement. In February, Bank of
East Asia dismissed Elliott's suggestion of a sale as "short-term
focused."
Goldman Sachs was the sole financial advisor for the bank and
its fellow shareholder, according to the statement.
Write to Gaurav Raghuvanshi at gaurav.raghuvanshi@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 05, 2016 07:25 ET (11:25 GMT)
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