Hello America, We Are the Casin Group

If you are in the United States and have heard the name “Casin Group,” chances are you have been following the proposed acquisition of the Chicago Stock Exchange. Casin is the lead investor in the acquisition group — a group that includes both private Chinese companies and American businesses. This deal has received an abundance of coverage, both in the U.S. and around the world.

My name is Jackson Xiao; I am the Vice President of Chongqing Casin Group, and CEO of our American subsidiary, North America (NA) Casin Holdings. Given our role in the acquisition, we would like to use our blog as an opportunity to introduce ourselves to the American public, who may not know much about Casin, and to explain why this deal is important to us and why we are involved.

Casin Group is a fully privately-held company in China, established nearly 20 years ago. We are heavily involved in the financial sector, as well as other industries such as environmental protection, real estate and urban infrastructure investment. We invite you to learn more about the different types of work we do at our parent company’s website: http://www.cqcasin.com/ (please note that this website is in Chinese, but can be translated through a web browser). We intend for NA Casin to build a greater physical and online presence as we continue to gain traction in the U.S., but until then we thought it was important to provide our parent company website for information.

Casin Group has built a strong reputation in China and throughout the Asia/Pacific region, both through the quality of our business dealings and also by attaching great importance to corporate social responsibility. For example, we are very proud of the donations we have made to fund post-earthquake reconstruction in the Wenchuan area, to the Green Yangtze River campaign and to communities and schools in these areas. In 2016, Casin Group completed the construction of a new town for over 5000 persons in the mountainous region hit by the Wenchuan earthquake. We share these examples because there have been questions about who we are as a company.

Regarding the potential acquisition of CHX Holdings, we see this deal as beneficial to both China and the United States. To start, we want to explore the possibilities of attracting foreign companies, including Chinese companies, to list on CHX. From a global perspective, countries in emerging markets are still in the process of actively establishing and improving their own stock exchanges. Even though trading at CHX represents only a small portion of the U.S. equities market share, the framework in which the exchange operates is ideal in many ways. For qualified companies in developing countries that desire a global presence and a listing in a mature market, CHX could give them that opportunity under a U.S. regulatory framework.

We also believe our investment in CHX will benefit the United States, not only because one of its exchanges will grow, but also due to the inclusion of foreign companies that look to CHX as a listing venue. Chinese companies will need help and support from third-party consultants to list their shares on a U.S. stock exchange, which will bring more jobs to brokerage firms, investment banks and law and accounting firms. These Chinese companies could also set up U.S. subsidiaries and open points of presence in the U.S., hiring American employees.

We are also interested in CHX because they are an independent, full service securities exchange, and they provide listing and regulatory services. Additionally, they are governed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of the preeminent financial regulatory bodies in the world, and have an esteemed board of directors that have approved this transaction as a strategic way forward.

Of course, this is also an investment, and we believe that CHX — with the help of our acquisition group — has enormous potential for growth. Our acquisition group partner Anthony Saliba has written about CHX’s plans to improve market structure: these initiatives will both improve capital markets and help the exchange itself grow and provide competition to NYSE, NASDAQ and BATS.

This transaction can provide a link between the capital markets in China and the U.S., the two biggest economies in the world. Chinese investors will help to improve the reputation and credibility of CHX in China, which will facilitate more Chinese investors to buy stocks listed on the CHX through Chinese and U.S. broker dealers. From our perspective, these are just some of the possible ways our markets could grow together.

For those that are following this transaction, we appreciate your interest and hope this has helped in your understanding of Casin Group and our ambitions to lead an investment group in acquiring the Chicago Stock Exchange. If you have any questions about the deal, please feel free to comment here, or if you’d like to learn more about Casin Group, please visit our website. We look forward to partnering with CHX, Chicago and the United States as a whole to improve markets for everyone.