Haitong shares surge on Portuguese bank purchase talks

Haitong Securities Co, China's second-largest brokerage by market value, surged to a record in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday after reports it was buying a Portuguese investment bank.

The company's Haitong International Holdings Ltd unit is in discussions to acquire Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento, or BESI, from Novo Banco SA, according to a Hong Kong exchange filing although the parties have not reached a formal pact yet, it said.

"This acquisition will be challenging as Portugal is very far away from China and the economy there is not great," said Zheng Chunming, a Shanghai-based analyst at Capital Securities Corp. "There will be a lot of uncertainties."