Despite Westpac’s withdrawal from the bid for National Bank of New Zealand, the kiwi bank’s British owner Lloyds TSB insists there are still several offers on the table.However, the British group failed to clarify exactly who those parties were when speaking to reporters in London.
On the face of it, Westpac’s announcement on Friday that it was no longer in the running for NBNZ leaves just ANZ and Black Horse Holdings Consortium led by New Zealand businessman Phil Verry.
The asking price for NBNZ is tipped to be about $7 billion.