Australia's Computershare and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) are to merge their Central Registration Hong Kong and Hong Kong Registrars share registration businesses, respectively.
Under the deal, Computershare will have a 76 per cent stake in the merger, to be called Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services, with the remaining 24 per cent owned by HKEx. The exchange will have a three year option to raise its stake to 30 per cent.
Computershare says the new company will "hold a major position in the market for share registration services" in Hong Kong. Clients will include 22 out of the 33 constituent companies in the Hang Seng Index and all 27 mainland H-share companies in the Hang Seng China Enterprise Index.
The merger and sale, and the integration of operations are scheduled for completion within the next few weeks. Financial terms were not disclosed.