(Yicai) Nov. 26 -- One of UBS Group’s joint venture partners in China plans to sell its entire stake in UBS Securities, clearing the path for the Swiss banking titan to bid for full ownership of the brokerage.

Beijing State-Owned Assets Management plans to sell its 33 percent of UBS Securities for at least CNY1.5 billion (USD212.2 million), the China Beijing Equity Exchange announced yesterday. UBS already owns the rest.

“As previously disclosed, the process of further increasing our ownership to 100 percent is underway,” UBS told The Paper yesterday. “We raised our shareholding in UBS Securities to 67 percent in 2022.”

UBS was the first foreign bank permitted to hold a majority stake in its Chinese securities joint venture in 2018, reflecting the country’s gradual opening-up of its financial markets.

UBS and BSAM also jointly own Credit Suisse Securities China, which was set up in 2008 by Credit Suisse Group and China’s Founder Securities.

Credit Suisse was integrated into UBS in June last year before the pair merged in May, resulting in UBS having to sell part of CSS as the merger led to it having two majority-owned brokerages in China, when regulations only allow a firm to control one.

It was announced this June that BSAM would buy 36 percent of CSS from UBS for CNY650.5 million (USD91.4 million) and 49 percent from Founder Securities for USD124 million, becoming its main shareholder. UBS still owns 15 percent.

“The sale of our stake in CSS is still pending review and approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission,” UBS said yesterday.

Editor: Futura Costaglione