RHB Banking Group (“RHB” or “Group”) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary RHB Investment Bank Berhad has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement with Phillip Securities Pte. Ltd. (“Phillip Securities”) for the disposal of its stock broking businesses in RHB Securities Singapore Pte. Ltd. (“RHBSS”) to Phillip Securities (“Proposed Transaction”).
The Proposed Transaction entails the disposal of RHBIB’s entire equity interest in RHBSS, a wholly owned-subsidiary of RHBIB, to Phillip Securities. As part of the Proposed Transaction, RHB Banking Group will internally transfer its capital markets businesses under RHBSS encompassing client coverage, research and corporate advisory services, equity capital markets and institutional equities sales to RHB Bank, Singapore, which is a branch of RHB Bank Berhad. As such, under the Proposed Transaction, Phillip Securities will only be acquiring RHBSS’ stock broking business.
This internal transfer of the capital markets businesses from RHBSS to RHB Bank, Singapore would enable the RHB Banking Group to provide a more holistic customer experience to its corporate and institutional clients in Singapore and the Region through its suite of wholesale banking solutions. The alignment of the capital markets and the wholesale business of RHB Bank, Singapore under one entity would allow RHB Banking Group to more effectively deliver our solutions to our targeted clients.
To facilitate the Proposed Transaction, both RHBIB and Phillip Securities had entered into a Conditional Share Purchase Agreement on June 29. The Proposed Transaction is subject to the approvals of the relevant regulatory authorities, and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2020.
“The internal transfer of the capital markets businesses from RHBSS to RHB Bank, Singapore is a natural move to enable us to provide a one stop solution for our corporate clients. With the integration of capital markets services and the corporate banking and global markets services under RHB Bank, Singapore, we are poised to be able to serve our customers better. The Group leverages on Singapore as its regional platform to provide cross border capital markets, advisory and banking services to clients across ASEAN. Upon the completion of the Proposed Transaction as a whole, RHB Bank, Singapore will be in a stronger position to deliver integrated value propositions to our clients, leveraging on key strengths of our Investment Banking team, in line with our five-year FIT22 strategic aspirations,” said Khairussaleh Ramli, Group Managing Director, RHB Banking Group.
“The proposed disposal of our Singapore stockbroking business to Phillip Securities would also benefit existing brokerage customers, who would gain from a wider range of broking services, while the transfer of capital markets businesses within RHBSS to RHB Bank, Singapore would enable our corporate clients to have access to a comprehensive suite of capital markets and financing solutions,” Khairussaleh added.
