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ANZ rumoured to be close to AmBank deal

ANZ rumoured to be close to AmBank deal

(14 July 2017 – Malaysia) ANZ Banking Group is near a deal to sell its Malaysian banking stake to a pension fund and exit the Southeast Asian nation, with the deal said to be worth around A$900 million.

The bank has been seeking to offload its 24 percent stake in Malaysian affiliate AMMB Holdings (AmBank) since early last year as part of a strategy to divest minority stakes in Asia.

Last month, RHB Bank and AmBank said they were starting merger talks, in Malaysia's biggest ever banking deal. As part of the all-share deal, valued at about US$9 billion, RHB is looking to acquire AmBank and the two banks are in exclusive talks until the end of August.

ANZ's stake is expected to be roughly 10 percent in the merged entity.

ANZ is reportedly speaking to Malaysian retirement fund KWAP, which already owns small stakes in both RHB and AmBank.

Last week, Malaysia's Star newspaper quoted the fund’s CEO Wan Kamaruzaman Wan Ahmad as saying the fund was keen on buying ANZ's stake after the proposed RHB and AmBank merger.

Despite its recent withdrawal from Asia operations, and CEO Shayne Elliott's re-assuarance that it is focussing on corporate clients in the region, East & Partners Asia's Asia Transaction Banking Markets Program shows that the bank continues a downward trend in primary relationship market share among Asia "Top 1000" firms by revenue, recording less than two percent in the latest round of reporting.

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