(10 August 2007 – Australia) After rebuffing the advances of Bank of Queensland, Bendigo Bank has decided to hop into bed with fellow regional Adelaide Bank.Barely three months after announcing the potential merger with BOQ was dead in the water, Bendigo has announced it is set to become part of the merged Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited with both boards supporting the arrangement.
Adelaide will hold a shareholder meeting in November to rubber stamp the deal.
Bendigo chairman Robert Johanson said the merger would bring together specialist skills in commercial and retail banking that had been developed separately and that the merged group would retain and continue to grow both brands.
He said the merger would enable both banks to deliver products more cost effectively to its customers via a network of 380 company and community owned branches.
The merged group will have a market capitalisation of about A$4 billion and potentially provide pre-tax savings of between A$60 and A$65 million a year in areas such as IT and back office processing.
Current Bendigo managing director Rob Hunt will lead the organisation as group managing director until 1 July 2009 with Adelaide’s MD Jamie McPhee acting as executive director, responsible for commercial banking.
Bendigo COO Mike Hirst will run Retail.