ANZ close to selling stake in Malaysia’s AMMB
AUSTRALIA AND New Zealand Banking (ANZ) group is said to be near a deal to divest its block of shares in Malaysian bank, AMMB Holdings Bhd, to the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) in a transaction that could be worth around US$900 million (Bt3o.5 billion), Reuters reported.
The development confirms an earlier report by StarBiz that KWAP is keen on buying ANZ’s 24 per cent stake in AMMB following its proposed merger with RHB Bank Bhd.
ANZ’s impending exit would mean that the proposed merger between AMMB and RHB would likely go through and mark KWAP’s maiden entry as one of the major shareholders in a financial institution.
In June, both banking groups said they were starting merger talks in Malaysia’s biggest ever banking deal in recent years.
As part of an all-share deal, valued at about US$9 billion, RHB is looking to acquire smaller rival AMMB to create the country’s fourth largest bank by asset size.
The two banks have until the end of next month to exclusively discuss the deal.
ANZ’s stake is expected to be roughly 10 per cent in the enlarged entity.
The Melbourne-based banking group was reportedly trying to sell its AMMB stake since early last year as part of a strategy to divest minority stakes in Asia. Reuters reported quoting sources that ANZ is in talks to sell that stake to KWAP, which already owns small stakes in RHB and AMMB.
Both firms have “agreed in principle” to the deal at a price equivalent to one-time book value of the latter, it added.
In a July 6 StarBiz report, KWAP’s chief executive officer, Datuk Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad, said that the size of the ANZ stake in the combined RHB-AMMB banking group fits the fund’s investment appetite.
“We are interested, but of course at the right price, and we are going to subscribe up to a 10 per cent stake from ANZ,” he was reported as saying.
Reuters reported that KWAP had considered purchasing part of ANZ’s stake two years ago but was not agreeable to the price.
Quoting sources, the foreign news agency said that ANZ’s stake was also drawing interest from another Malaysian institutional investor.
RHB has indicated to analysts that it would pay AMMB shareholders a one-time multiple of the latter’s book value.
Based on AMMB’s 5.07 ringgit (Bt40) closing price that values it at 0.96 times book value, ANZ block of shares was worth RM3.62bil.
If the RHB-AmBank merger wins the approval of shareholders, the stakes of other key shareholders will also decline in the merged entity.
Shares of RHB, meanwhile, were last traded 5.05 ringgit each.
