Belgian corporate finance company and broker KBC Securities has completed its acquisition of 51 per cent of Latvian corporate finance specialist Baltic Investment Company. BIC is headquartered in Riga and has offices there, in other Baltic states, Moscow and Kiev. It will be renamed KBC Securities Baltic Investment Company. The Ukrainian subsidiary of BIC has been renamed KBC Securities Ukraine. Guy Van Eechaute, chief executive of KBC Securities, said: “This deal expands our corporate finance presence into almost every country in the central and eastern European region. The KBC Securities corporate finance network now covers the Baltic states, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia. This creates ample opportunities for cross-border M & A deals and for cross-border equity capital markets transactions. Moreover, I am delighted that we will also get involved in the brokerage business in Ukraine, because today this is largely a capital market”. Over the past six months, KBC Securities has acquired Swiss Capital (now KBC Securities Romania), Equitas (now KBC Securities Hungary), DZI Invest (Bulgaria) and three Serbian companies: Hipobroker, Senzal (both brokers) and Bastion (a company specialising in corporate finance transactions).