First Capital Securities denies JD.com unit to purchase stake

Chinese brokerage First Capital Securities Co Ltd denied on Sunday that a unit of e-commerce firm JD.com was in talks to purchase a 24 percent stake.

Reuters reported on Friday that JD Finance was in talks to buy the stake worth about $1.5 billion from First Capital’s top and third-largest shareholders, Bloomage Xinyu Investment and Nengxing Holdings Group.

In a stock exchange statement, First Capital said: “Currently there is no situation of JD Finance purchasing 24 percent of shares in First Capital as reported by media.”

It added that the two shareholders, who own 15.4 percent and 8.5 percent respectively, had alerted the brokerage in August that they would halt a plan to restructure assets.

Sources had told Reuters that the deal was still to be finalized as no agreement had been reached over valuation.