81.   NatWest had announced the sale of their equity business a month ago.

82.   Other sources said, however, that Peregrine chairman Philip Tose was unlikely to play a role in the revived Peregrine equities business.

83.   Only now, it appears more credible as the American investment bank recently decided to opt out of the Asian equities business following the turmoil in the region.

84.   The collapse of Peregrine has come at a time when three other brokerage houses have placed their equity business on the bloc.

85.   The equities derivatives business being closed by ING Barings is the London-based business that used to belong to Barings Plc.

86.   The equity business which has various offshore subsidiaries is likely to be broken up with Peregrine deputy chairman Francis Leung expected to head up the mainland business.

87.   The equity securities business in Asia Pacific will be scaled back to sector-based teams in support of global industry teams.

88.   The opportunity for Salomon Smith Barney to acquire the County NatWest business followed a recently announced decision by the NatWest Markets to exit the global equities business.

89.   These include the scaling back of its equity securities business in the Asia Pacific to sector-based teams, in support of the global industry teams.

90.   While the new equity product business would have its headquarters in Hong Kong, it would not necessarily be a public company, he said.