Citigroup and Orient Securities Sign China Securities Joint Venture Agreement

Hong Kong/Shanghai – Citigroup and Orient Securities Company Ltd today signed definitive agreements, subject to regulatory approval, establishing a securities joint venture to operate in the Chinese domestic market. The new JV will be called 东方花旗证券有限公司 in Chinese and "Citi Orient Securities Co. Ltd" in English.

The joint venture will engage in investment-banking business in the Chinese domestic market, including equity and debt underwriting and advisory services. Orient Securities Company Ltd will have a 67 percent stake in the new entity with the remaining 33 percent owned by Citigroup, consistent with existing Chinese regulations.

In addition to the investment banking JV, Orient Securities and Citi will also explore further cooperation in other areas such as research and training.

"The pairing of Citi's global capabilities and Orient's local strengths will create a market-leading securities company with the ability to serve Chinese and international companies to help them raise capital from local equity and debt markets. This new partnership underscores our strategic commitment to China's capital markets and complements our well-established banking franchise in China," said Stephen Bird, CEO for Citi in Asia Pacific.

"We are delighted to be forming this important partnership with Orient Securities, a strong, highly reputable local firm that shares Citi's management philosophy on building for success. This announcement underlines our continued investment in China to support our clients," said Andrew Au, CEO for Citi China.

Orient Securities Company
Orient Securities Company Ltd is a leading securities company covering securities underwriting, brokerage, securities trading, asset management, commodities futures and financial futures in the domestic market. Established in 1998 and headquartered in Shanghai, Orient Securities has more than 2200 employees and is jointly owned by a number of Shanghai's State Owned Companies.

Citi
Citi, a leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.

Citigroup China
Citigroup, the leading foreign bank in China with a presence in 11 cities, has helped raise over US$40bn for Chinese companies from international capital markets in the last five years, according to Dealogic data. These included leading nine international IPOs for Chinese companies in the last year, a record for the bank in China. Citi is also already an important market participant in the local interbank and FX markets in China.